Indiscriminate Spellcasting
by AriannaLaTouche
Summary: Ranma gets caught up in the adventure of a lifetime, surrounded by girls, fighting for the fate of the world, and occasionally gets splashed with water. Sounds like a regular day for Ranma? Except there's no such thing as a regular day for Ranma, because he's starting out in Midgar. Ranma 1/2 X FF7
1. Martial Arts-Dimensional Transmission

**I own nothing but my own words. The characters and settings that follow are taken from Ranma 1/2 (created by Rumiko Takahashi/VIZ Media) and Final Fantasy (Tetsuya Nomura et al/Square Enix). Respect the copyright holders, yo.**

Chapter One

Martial Arts Dimensional Transmission

[ ν ] - εγλ 0007, November 27

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"Okay... what the heck happened?"

Ranma Saotome sat up slowly, shaking his head to try to clear his thoughts. The last thing he remembered was that jerk Kuno shouting something about a new technique. He hadn't believed for a moment that anything that idiot could manage would serve as more than a minor inconvenience, and that was even if he managed to connect. There was a flash of light, and what he could only describe as a sucking sensation, as if the entire city had been stuck in a plane and suddenly depressurized. He remembered feeling like he was falling, and then a sudden shift in gravity, and then darkness…

...and now, here.

Wherever 'here' was.

Ranma stood up slowly, dusting himself off, thankful at least that he had not landed in water. Then he looked up.

And continued looking up.

"Kami-all-above…" he whispered, completely stunned by the sight.

The sky was gone. In its place was a pillar of steel and rust that seemed to take up the whole of the horizon, topped by an enormous metallic plate that seemed to occupy the heavens, covered in lamplights and cables of all sizes.

The sight was so bizarre, so alien to him, that he nearly failed to notice the cutpurse reaching for his pockets. However, 'nearly' was not good enough, and Ranma's hand grabbed the thief's wrist, wrenching a dagger free of his grip. The thief yelped and winced in pain just before Ranma's leg snapped out, the foot burying painfully in the midsection of his adversary.

"Get lost, creep," Ranma spat out, "before you regret it."

The thief jumped, visibly cowed, gave a short bow, and scurried off into the shadows. Ranma shook his head, deciding to take stock of what was around him.

Small buildings, ramshackle cottages, a house that looked like it had been converted out of a hollowed out jet engine. People dressed in biker leathers, suit-and-waistcoat, long dresses and hair tied back. It looked like a cross between modern and turn-of-the-century Western fashions, with the neighborhood pieced together out of scrap.

There was a bar across the way. Ranma was pretty sure he hadn't gotten drunk, though considering how he felt he'd probably be hard-pressed to convince anyone else of that. A train whistle sounded in the distance, and aside from the dingy appearance of his surroundings and mostly dirt road, he might have been in one of the seedier districts of Tokyo proper. He considered the bar, a sign labeling it as 7th Heaven. A moment later, an enormous dark-skinned man came out, holding two men by their shirts in a single enormous hand, and tossed the two drunks out onto the street. Ranma was reasonably sure he could best the man in combat, but noticed that the man's right arm ended in what appeared to be a gatling gun. Taking all things into account, he wisely decided against making a scene here.

Ranma picked a direction and started walking.

-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-

He had been going for about two hours at an easy stroll. It seemed so far that wherever he was, it was just one enormous slum with no sky and no end in sight. At this point, Ranma was just looking around aimlessly, hoping for even a single familiar sight or sound. He'd finally found one, but it was far from what he expected to find.

"...a church?"

It certainly looked like one to him. Tall steeple, stained glass windows, even an old tarnished cherub on the mast of the steeple. In deference to the surroundings, most of the windows had cracks or missing panels, the siding was stripped and shattered, and it looked as if it was surrounded by the kind of refuse one would normally find in an aircraft junkyard. Ranma stepped carefully up to the entrance.

"Hello, hello!" a soft voice said from behind him. "Can I help you?"

Ranma jumped at the sudden words, briefly shocked that anyone could sneak up on him that easily. "I, uh…" he stammered as he collected himself, turning to face the speaker.

He found himself facing a young woman, probably his own age, wearing a pink dress, heavy boots, and a bolero jacket, leaning casually on a long metal staff. "Are you here for the flowers?" she asked, leaning in a little bit.

"Flowers?" Ranma asked, genuinely puzzled. He glanced around, wondering if she was talking about the same thing he was thinking of. The soil, what there was of it, was hard-packed and dry, and anywhere that wasn't a foot-path was either stacked to overflowing with junk or simply looked filthy enough that the idea of growing flowers in it made Ranma's stomach turn a little.

The girl laughed at his befuddlement. "No, silly, not out here, inside!" she explained, as if that made all the sense in the world. She stepped smartly around him and pushed the heavy church door open, gesturing for him to follow. Lacking much else to do, he decided to at least peek inside.

The church innards were standard enough. Rows of pews, a pulpit on a raised stage, and most of it in the same dilapidated state as the outside. Except for just in front of the pulpit. Most of the floorboards had been pulled away, leaving a patch of soil teeming with healthy, bright yellow flowers. Ranma tried to keep his face blank, but even though he knew next to nothing about horticulture, he knew that this was no simple thing.

"They only grow here," the girl was saying, "Don't ask me why, but they do. I try my best to make sure they keep growing, and I pick a few to sell every couple days."

Ranma nodded absently, leaning casually against one of the pews. "It's… I don't think I've seen anything like it, least of all around here."

The girl knelt down and busied herself with tending to the roots on the fringe. "Give me just a moment, want to make sure these are okay."

Ranma smiled gently, and shoved his hands in his pockets, whistling idly as he waited. The girl occasionally stood up, but it seemed it was only to change position around the growth of flowers. Almost ten minutes later, she finally stood up, stretching with her staff over her head.

"Done!" she exclaimed happily. "Thanks for waiting. I'm Aerith, by the way." She extended a hand in greeting.

"Ranma," he shook her hand firmly.

Aerith looked over Ranma appraisingly. "Wouldn't have guessed you're from Wutai… people around here can be real jerks to anyone different."

More different than you know, Ranma thought to himself. Aloud, he said, "Not from Wutai, wherever that is."

Aerith blinked in confusion. "Oh, I'm sorry, I just thought from your name and your clothes… never mind. Where are you from, then?"

Ranma hesitated. "That… might be difficult to explain. Before we get into that, can I ask ya a question?"

"Sure," Aerith replied.

"Promise me you'll take it seriously, won't laugh or anythin'?"

Aerith nodded, giving a soft smile. "I'll do my best, anyway."

"Fair enough," Ranma considered. "Okay, here we go… where am I?"

Fully ten seconds of silence followed this as Aerith processed the question, her emerald eyes analyzing Ranma, looking first for any sign of humor, then for any sign of trauma. "You're serious," she said flatly.

"I'm serious," Ranma echoed, his face carefully blank.

Aerith gave out a sigh. "Okay then… didn't expect my afternoon was going to go like this. You're in Midgar."

Ranma's expression did not change even a little bit.

"...Midgar?" Aerith repeated, noticing the lack of recognition. "Biggest city on the continent? Home to Shinra?" Ranma didn't so much as twitch. Aerith decided to go all out. "Mako energy, materia, the big reactors around the edge of the city…" she trailed off. "You're… really not from around here… are you?"

Ranma shrugged, letting out a long sigh. "I'm going to kill that idiot Kuno…" Taking a deep breath, he squared his shoulders, and looked Aerith directly in the eyes. "My name is Ranma Saotome," he began, his voice raised slightly out of habit, "heir to the Saotome School of Indiscriminate Grappling. I live in Nerima-ku, Tokyo, Japan. And I'm pretty sure that I'm nowhere near there." Aside from the sounds of the city in the distance, neither of them said anything for almost half a minute. "Please don't ask me if I'm bein' serious again," Ranma finished quietly.

"I don't…" Aerith trailed off for a moment, gathering herself, "I don't know what most of that means. But I definitely don't know where this… 'Japan' is. Maybe we should find a map."

"What do you mean, 'we'?" Ranma asked, a little warily. "You actually want to help me? None of this is freaking you out?"

"Oh, don't get me wrong," Aerith countered, a little more cheerfully than her words suggested. "I'm about two or three steps from bashing your head in, and if you try anything I will. But..." she paused, considering her words carefully. "But if you're on the level, then you need help. Most here in Midgar just keep their heads down, stay to themselves, and don't get involved. In that way, it's probably a good thing you found someone like me. I'll see if I can help you, because I know what it's like to… not have anywhere else to go."

Ranma was slightly taken aback at that, but nodded slowly. "Well, then, where do we go for a map?"

-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-

"Mo~om, I'm home!" Aerith yelled out.

Home, as it turned out, was a cramped two-story cottage a few kilometers away, just outside an area where people had made homes out of the bits of scrap laying around. Ranma didn't get a good look around the outside when they arrived, but he was sure he smelled more flowers.

"I'll be down in a minute, dear," an older woman's voice called from above.

"Just so you know, I brought a friend over," Aerith called back.

There was a pause. "Well, I'll try not to break out the photo albums, then," the voice said with a hint of humor.

Ranma removed his shoes at the door and quietly took a seat at the table that took up most of the available space on this floor. A few moments later, an older woman in a plain green dress with brown hair in a bun descended from the upper floor. She was carrying a broom, and Ranma noticed she held it in a close double-hand grip, similar to a kendoist. It was obvious that she'd been prepared for the possibility of having to fight whoever had come with her daughter.

"Oh," the woman said, her grip relaxing somewhat. "Not Tseng or the others, then."

Aerith shook her head. "Nope, this is Ranma."

Aerith and the other woman glanced at each other, and it seemed to Ranma that some unspoken conversation passed between the two of them in a matter of moments. Letting out a sigh, the older woman finally stepped down off the last few steps and casually rounded the table. "Well, I'm Elmyra," she introduced herself. "Welcome to our house, dear. Will you be staying for dinner? We're having stew."

"Only if I'm not imposing," Ranma answered, suddenly aware of the passage of time. If it was dinner time, then either he'd been unconscious longer than he thought, or the lack of proper sunlight was messing with his internal clock. He adopted a somewhat rigid position, hands on his legs as he sat stiffly in the chair.

Elmyra smiled. "Not at all, dear," she confirmed, taking a well-worn but clean white apron from a coat rack and moving towards what Ranma assumed was the kitchen.

"Hey mom?" Aerith asked. "Before you get started, do we have any maps Ranma could use?"

Elmyra stopped, blinked briefly in confusion, and then stepped around to the crawlspace door underneath the stairs. "I think so… where of?"

Aerith cupped her chin in thought. "Let's start with Midgar, and work out from there if we can," she said finally.

"O~okay," Elmyra responded slowly, still puzzled. She shuffled around, half out of sight for a few moments, before pulling out three rolled up sheafs of paper. "The bigger one is a bit out of date, but I hope it helps. I'll be in the kitchen, if you need anything."

Aerith unrolled each one a little, checking their titles, before sprawling one out on the table. "This is Midgar's lower plate…" she began softly, clearly not wanting to alert her mother, "and the upper plate is on the other side."

Ranma nodded, and looked it over. It seemed the city was arranged into a circle around the main pillar. Additionally, there were neighborhoods that seemed to be divided somewhat forcibly into eight segments around that pillar. It looked like a city planner had started with an idea, and then decided to drop that idea square into the middle of a place where people already lived and made their homes.

He flipped the map over, and saw the 'upper plate' as Aerith had called it. The map looked the same on the surface, but it was clear that whatever plan had been botched below had been followed ruthlessly above. Straight lines and concentric circles around much of the populated areas, with only a few exceptions. Ranma noted a fairly intricate railway system that seemed to unite not just the different sections, but also the upper and lower halves of the city. Aside from the obvious differences, it briefly made him think of Tokyo's shinkasen network. It wasn't until he'd gone over it twice that he'd realized the map's notations were in katakana, which was bewildering to see something so clearly not of his home written in a language he understood from birth.

"No, nothing here," he said quietly. "What's on the next one?"

Aerith rolled out the second map over top the first one. "This is the entire continent. Midgar is here," she responded, pointing to a circle in the northwest.

Ranma nodded and began poring over it, but could tell by the shape of the landmass how unlikely it was that he would see anything recognizable. Aside from the fact that it vaguely resembled Hokkaido turned on its head, there was not a single similarity to any specific point of geography. Not just to Japan, but now he was realizing this didn't even look like Earth. A steep mountain range divided the continent more or less in half. Kalm, Junon, Fort Condor, huge farmlands to the east, a series of metal mines to the south, and sparsely populated grasslands between the major towns.

Ranma shook his head. "Doesn't even look like a landmass I've seen before. Last one is the whole world, I take it?" Aerith nodded as she rolled it out, not saying anything. "All right, let's see…" he muttered resignedly.

The continent he was on was obviously the eastern landmass, judging from the shape and size. An inland sea separated two enormous continents by east and west, with a third to the north. Costa Del Sol, Nibelheim, Rocket Town, Wutai, Corel… Ranma's eyes glanced between them, hoping beyond hope that his expectations would prove to be wrong. The island that Wutai was on vaguely resembled Honshu as a whole, if it was upside down and missing most of the things that would identify it as Japan. Nothing looked familiar. Either there had been massive seismic events in the last nine hours of his life, or…

"This… isn't my home," he said quietly. "None of it."

There was a clang from the kitchen. Ranma looked up, and Aerith followed his gaze. So absorbed in the maps had Ranma been that, without either of them realizing it, Elmyra had peeked around the corner and had been listening in. Equally absorbed, Elmyra had dropped the ladle she was holding.

Ranma let out an exasperated sigh. "Okay, let's get all our cards out, shall we?" he said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Elmyra, just so I know how much I need to catch you up on, what all did ya hear?"

"...all of it," she replied kindly, her voice a little strained. "I'm… very sorry to hear that. I can't imagine what it's like to not remember where you're from."

Aerith spoke before Ranma could correct her. "It's not that, mom… he _does _know where he's from… or at least he says he does. But where he says he's from isn't on any of these maps."

Beyond the sounds of cooking, there was abject silence for several long moments. "Well, as long as we're getting all the big stuff out of the way… Elmyra, would you happen to have a tea kettle?"

Elmyra visibly froze as her mind tried to process the shift in topics. "I… Yes, I do, why?"

"Could I ask you to heat up enough to fill a mug for me?" he asked calmly. "And also, an ordinary glass of cold water."

"Oh my goodness, I'm terribly sorry," Elmyra said suddenly. "I didn't realize you were that thirsty." She disappeared back into the kitchen.

Aerith peered over at Ranma. "Why hot water?"

Ranma waved her off. "Trust me on this one, it'll be easier if I just show you."

After several minutes, Elmyra returned with a mug of hot water, sitting on a saucer next to a tea bag, and a glass of ice water. "I'm sorry we don't have very good tea," Elmyra explained by way of apology.

Ranma nodded, deliberately placing the tea bag to one side. He stood up, taking the glass of cold water in one hand. "So… I'd like to take this moment to properly introduce myself." He raised the glass in one hand, perhaps a little higher than was necessary for a toast. "I am Ranma Saotome…" and tipped the glass over slowly. The refreshing coolness was accompanied by the familiar loss in height, and a sudden overbalancing in the torso. "...and I am cursed."

She set the glass down on the table, noticing the all-too familiar disbelieving stares.

Aerith's jaw was slack.

Elmyra fainted.

Ranma gently facepalmed. "Kami, why do I even bother…"

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**Author's Notes: This first chapter is slow on purpose. I promise it will pick up as we go. :D**

**To forestall questions that may come up...**

**The story is labeled as M for two reasons: One is that swearing is *not* going to be censored. And since these are mostly adult characters living in a pretty grim-dark world, swearing is a thing that will happen, frequently, and occasionally for comic effect. The other is the setting itself. The Honey Bee Inn from the original game is pretty obviously a brothel, there's no sugarcoating that. I don't plan to take the story inside there, but we will be dealing with some pretty heavy stuff as the story progresses.**

**The story is *not* rated MA, because at least at the moment, I don't anticipate actual sex scenes getting written. That may change, but I doubt it.**

**The Greek lettering at the beginning of the date is apparently the official notation for the calendar inside the world of FF7. Don't ask me what it actually means, though. I can't even read regular Greek, let alone fakey video game fantasy steampunk Greek. The date within the story is to provide reference and context to the plot related events of FF7. To give an idea of that context, the official date of the Bombing Run mission, the event that kicks off FF7 proper, takes place the evening of December 9. We _will _be getting there.**

**The idea for Aerith's declaration of Ranma being from Wutai mid-chapter is that since Ranma's family name sounds Japanese, by extension it also sounds Wutaian (see Kisaragi as another example). Combined with his appearance (the Chinese-style tunic and pants), this would be a first guess for most non-Wutaians on hearing Ranma's name. This... may or may not become important later on, you'll just have to wait and see.**

**Ranma in this story is based more on the manga interpretation than the anime (some anime events may be referenced as time passes). I've cleaned up a little more of his attitude though, because even late-saga Ranma was... kind of a jerk when he wanted to be. In short, Ranma at this point has come to terms with both his engagement to Akane, and his curse. He still has problems with both, but he's at least grown to understand and work with what he's got. Ranma's pronouns will change to reflect physical appearance, just to make things easier to keep track of; that being said, as in canon, Ranma is very solidly hetero, and is definitely *not* looking for more fiance candidates. This is not a harem fic. I have nothing against them, but this ain't it.**

**Comment and follow! Constructive criticism always welcomed.**


	2. Just Another Day

**Chapter updates after this should happen once a week for as long as I can keep up my current pace at writing (which for the record is an insane pace). If I start getting too close to my unedited work, I'll roll it back to bi-weekly. Thanks and shout-outs to my beta reader imperfetc, who, despite enjoying the stuff that Denny's Restaurant calls 'cheese sauce' is otherwise a flawless human being and who has given me valuable input.**

**Reviews: Okay, so first off I didn't expect this to get this much attention after less than a day. Pleasantly surprised though. Please keep it coming!**

**snowfalldevice: Short version is that Ranma _can_ use materia, but does not yet know how. There's also some other things that will happen soon that may render it... less useful for him.**

**Render unto Takahashi that which is Takahashi's, and render unto Squeenix that which is Squeenix's. The remainder belongs to me.**

* * *

Chapter Two

Just Another Day

[ ν ] - εγλ 0007, November 27

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Ranma let out an exasperated sigh, walked over to Elmyra, who had collapsed into a heap on the floor, and unceremoniously dumped the remains of her cold water on top of her head. Elmyra almost immediately gasped in shock and skittered a few inches on the wooden floor, breathing heavily, her eyes focusing on the redhead in front of her.

Aerith's eyes and head tracked Ranma's movements, but appeared to still be in shock herself. Ranma rolled her eyes and reached out with one hand, giving Aerith a gentle but unmistakable pinch on the cheek. "Aaahh!" she gasped, snapping out of it.

"Both of you gonna be okay?" Ranma asked, glancing between them.

"Y-y-you-you're a…" Aerith stammered.

"I'm a girl, yes," Ranma replied, starting to wish she had just kept the whole thing quiet. Even being as used to this curse as she was, she still didn't like it, and probably never would. Except for the discount on ice cream.

"But… you were... "

"I was a boy," Ranma confirmed. "And now I'm a girl." She took the cup of hot water, noticing it still steaming, and decided to get it over with despite the likelihood of pain. The hot water scalded slightly, but was otherwise normal as it dripped down to the floor "And now I'm a boy again, any questions?" he concluded.

Aerith stared at him for a long, tense moment, then walked over and poked him square in the collarbone. "'Any questions,' _indeed_!" she responded forcefully. "How in the _world _did you do that? Where'd the rest of your _body _go when you became a girl? Where did your _breasts _go when you became a guy? What kind of place _is _this Japan, anyway?" she finished, jabbing him in the collar with each question.

Ranma gently pushed aside Aerith's accusatory hand, and nodded towards the table. "Maybe if we all sat down for this one?" he suggested calmly, reaching out a hand to help Elmyra to her feet. Aerith and Elmra both nodded, Elmyra taking Ranma's hand. A few seconds later, each of them were seated around the table, Aerith notably sitting much closer to her mother.

"Okay… so, as you can probably guess," Ranma began, "you're not the first people I've had to explain this curse to. But, since you don't know where I'm from, this is going to be a little difficult." He picked up a pencil lying on the table and flipped over a sheet of paper. Taking a moment, he drew a rough approximation of Japan in one corner. "This is Japan, and this is my home," he said, drawing a circle to represent Tokyo. "And this…" he began drawing a significantly larger landmass on one side, "is called China. To give you an idea of the scale, you can drive the short way across Japan in about half a day if you're not tryin' too hard. My pops and I went way into the middle of China a couple years ago, for what was supposed to be a bit of martial arts training. That ended up going… not so great.

"There's this place up in the mountains in the middle of China, called Jusenkyo," he continued. "It's an ancient training ground for martial artists, but it was abandoned… too dangerous, they said. It's a bunch of little pools of water fed by underground springs. There's a... " he paused for a moment, trying to consider how to explain bamboo to someone who might not actually be from his own planet. "There's a single wooden stake planted into each one. The idea, a long time ago, is that it was supposed to test your balance and focus, which especially in martial arts are very important. Lose your balance, and you get tossed in the drink for your troubles. Turns out, though, nobody else was usin' this place for a reason.

"Over somethin' like three thousand years of this place's history, a lot of people and animals had drowned in the different springs," he went on. "For whatever reason, though, this place was cursed, so when people fell in the springs, they'd take the form of whatever drowned there last. Normally, that wouldn't be a problem for me, the Saotome School specializes in midair and high-mobility strikes. So, we climbed up, and started our warm up bout. I drew first blood and knocked Pops off his pole... and right into what turned out to be the Spring of Drowned Panda.

"So, I knock Pops into the pool, and when he comes out," Ranma gestured wildly with his arms raised, "he's this three thousand pound behemoth of a bear, growling at me, and standing up on the wooden pole, looking like murder. I'm stunned speechless, and before I can try to get Pops to cool off, he wallops me of the pole I'm on, and I go flying." Ranma sighed. "Can you guess what spring I fell into?"

Aerith and Elmyra shared a Look. "Is… this something that is normal, where you come from?" Elmyra asked incredulously. "People changing shape because they took a swim in the wrong watering hole?"

Ranma opened his mouth, and then closed it. _Pops, Ryoga, Shampoo, Mousse, Taro, Herb…_ he thought. Aloud, "I wouldn't say it's _normal... _Though now that I think about it way too many people I know have been there and had it happen to them. Some of them even _after _they knew what it was." Ranma shrugged. "But, no, it's not something that happens anywhere else in the world that I know of."

"And…" Aerith interjected, "it doesn't hurt? Like, physically, having your body drop or gain a foot in height, having your… chest… swell up like that?"

Ranma was actually stunned at the question. "Nobody's actually asked me that before, that I remember," Ranma answered slowly, more than a little surprised about how off-script the question was for him. "But, no, there's no physical pain from the transformation. The problem isn't the switch itself, the problem is the damn curse attracts water, and tends to do it at the most awkward possible moment."

"You're saying that there's a non-awkward time to shapeshift from a girl to a boy?" Aerith countered, a slight smile on her face.

Ranma blew a raspberry at that. "I'll give ya that, but… If you were to plot out your day and pick a point in your day where something completely insane would happen that could _only_ be made worse by suddenly being the opposite gender, you'd get splashed about three seconds before that."

Aerith grimaced. Elmyra looked thoughtful. "It's just… hot and cold water?" Elmyra asked.

Ranma nodded. "Don't ask me why, I don't make the rules."

Aerith waved her hands vaguely. "Okay, stop, time out," she implored, shaking her head. "I need a minute for all of this. Ranma, is there anything you want to know about from us?"

Ranma thought back to their earlier conversation. "What's 'materia'?" Once again, there was the stunned look from both women to his words. "Yeah, I know, I get it, it's something common here. Explain it to me like ya would to a kid."

Aerith glanced over at Elmyra, then tugged at what Ranma had assumed was just a large gemstone in the thick bracelet on her wrist. It came loose, and she set it down on the table. It was green, translucent, almost perfectly spherical, and seemed to radiate some kind of energy to Ranma's perception. "This," Aerith explained, "is materia. There's a lot of different information about what it actually _is_, but everyone agrees on what it _does_. It's a way for humans to use magic."

Ranma stared at it. "...magic," he repeated doubtfully.

Aerith nodded. "Come outside, I'll show you," she insisted, standing up and grabbing the little green orb. Ranma followed, deftly slipping his shoes back on as he stepped through the door. "Do you always do that?" Aerith asked suddenly.

"Do what?"

"Your shoes," she indicated, walking away from their house. "You took them off before you got more than three feet indoors."

"It's a custom, I guess, where I'm from," Ranma explained. "Guests remove their shoes at the entrance so they don't soil their host's home with dirt or grass tracked in from outside."

Aerith looked down at her own heavy boots, which probably carried enough mud and dust to, on average, make any given place in Midgar slightly dirtier. "I… see," she considered thoughtfully. "Okay, this should be a good spot," she indicated a piece of heavy sheet metal propped up over top of a junk pile. She slotted the materia back into her bracelet, and closed her eyes in concentration. After about two seconds, there was a faint glow around her, and suddenly a ball of fire emerged from her outstretched hand. It accelerated forward and impacted hard against the steel plate with a thud, leaving a scorch mark surrounding the point of contact.

Ranma felt his jaw involuntarily drop away as he glanced back and forth between Aerith and the burn mark on the metal. "How…" he began.

"Don't ask me, I don't make the rules," Aerith mimicked Ranma's earlier dismissal.

Ranma screwed up his face in frustration. "Fine," he said in a grumpy tone.

Aerith giggled a bit. "It's… difficult to put into words," she said after a moment. "Different materia have different effects, but one materia will always make the same effect between different people," she explained.

Ranma nodded, trying to follow this. "Is it something you learn? Could I learn to use these myself, even without materia?"

"Uhhh…" Aerith responded uncertainly. "Yes and no? Materia can grow in power the longer you use it. But that power is linked directly to the materia, not to the wielder. For example, I have a Fire materia, and a Cure materia," she elaborated, pointing at the two orbs slotted into her bracelet. "If I gave you the Fire materia, you'd be able to cast Fire, and I wouldn't, unless you gave it back. You could use it for a while until you learned to cast Fira, a stronger spell. Then if you gave it back to me, I could cast Fire _and _Fira, and you wouldn't be able to do either."

Ranma blinked at that. "Yeah, I thought there would be a catch," he confirmed. "So no matter how good you get, all of that skill and power can be circumvented completely…" he trailed off, stepping behind Aerith, "...by doing this."

Aerith blinked. "Doing what?" she inquired. Then she looked at him. Or more accurately at his hand.

Which was holding her bracelet.

With her materia still in it.

"What?" she gasped, looking down at her wrist. It was, indeed, completely bare. She hadn't even noticed. "How did you do that?"

Ranma smirked. "I don't make a habit of that," he explained, handing her back the bracelet. "But I'm a martial artist of no small amount of skill. I've trained since before I could walk. And deft hands are a bit of a fringe benefit to that." He smiled broadly. "The point I'm tryin' to make is, if I'm understanding alla that correctly... if you use materia, then your strength, your ability, can become _defined _by that materia, even though it's not a part of you. You lose the materia, you lose that strength. You can be disarmed and rendered almost completely powerless… by something as simple as removing a bangle from your wrist."

With that, he stepped forward to the same steel plate that Aerith's Fire spell had struck a few minutes ago. He took a moment, examining the metal, then moved into a precise stance, one arm couched by his side, and thrust out that arm with a short _kiai_, striking the metal hard. There was a brief sound of metal fatigue, and then he stepped away.

Aerith looked at the steel plate in awe. There was a neat, fist-sized hole just to the right of the scorch mark she had made not even a minute before. "There's a certain amount of talent to it," he admitted, "but even discarding that, the training, the techniques, the skill is all me. And you can't remove that skill from me without removing… well, _me_." He grinned and started walking back over to Aerith. "So if all this materia is necessary to survive in this world, I'll use it. I might even use it to boost what I can already do, in a pinch. But otherwise… I'm probably going to go without it."

Aerith looked at him for a long moment. "And to think, I was offering to protect you while you found your way home." She smiled at that, holding back a laugh. "Maybe a bit presumptuous of me…"

Ranma shook his head. "Don't get me wrong," he corrected. "I'm still asking for your help. This is… very definitely not my world. I could do or say the wrong thing, I could offend someone by missing a social cue, I could get taken advantage of because I don't know how much a bowl of noodles costs. Two hours ago I didn't know the name of the city I'm standing in. Five minutes ago, I didn't know what materia was. And unless something major happens in the next few minutes," he said, winding down, "I still have no idea how I got here, so I don't know where to start looking for a way home. So… yes… I still need your help," he finished, sitting down on a chunk of scrap, running one hand through his hair.

Aerith looked at him. Despite the facade of bravado and confidence, she could tell that this was not an easy thing for him to be experiencing. She sat down next to him and smiled. "They say that a problem shared is a problem halved," Aerith offered. Ranma looked up at that. "I'll help, if I can. I'll teach you what you need to get by here. If I find out anything that might get you home, I'll tell you. I'd like to ask one thing in exchange, though," she continued in a singsong tone.

Ranma stared at her. "And that would be…?"

Aerith grinned. "I don't think I'm ever going to be able to punch through a chunk of steel like that," she admitted, gesturing at the plate Ranma had torn through. "But if you've been training yourself like that for that long… tell me," she finished, "what do you know about staff fighting?"

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**A/N: This chapter is the exposition fairy coming in to drop backstory on us all, yeah. Ranma needed to learn about what makes Midgar tick. And the Gainsboroughs needed to learn more about Ranma.**

**The explanation Ranma gives of the experience at Jusenkyo is, admittedly, a really simplified version of Ranma's story of how he became cursed. Chances are good that if you're reading a fanfic involving Ranma, you might already know a bit about Ranma and the mechanics of his curse. ****The explanation Aerith gives about materia and how they work, and also how they *don't* work, is likewise a highly simplified version of FF7's universe mechanics. ****Chances are good that if you're reading a fanfic involving FF7, you might already know a bit about materia and materia growth. ****The point is that each doesn't know all the basics of the other automatically. They've known each other less than a day. Aerith always struck me as kind and warm-hearted, so it made sense to me that she'd do what she could to make sure Ranma could survive. She volunteered to help Cloud in the base game after knowing him all of a day, and Cloud wasn't exactly helpless.**

**There's so much more to come, I promise. Let me know what you think!**


	3. Saotome School of Hard Knocks

Words.

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**A/N: Okay holy carp you guys, it's been a week and I've got over a dozen reviews? I seriously wasn't expecting this level of attention this quickly! So, let's get a couple things out of the way. First and foremost, you guys all rock hardcore and I'm grateful for your kind words so far. I honestly feel like I don't yet deserve all of that, but I'll do my best to live up to it! Second, to questions that came up in the intervening period...**

**Kariston Draconis - That's kind of my goal, yeah. FF7 is broadly known. Ranma 1/2 is... less well known today than say in the 90s, but there are still die-hard fans. I'm trying to find the middle ground between 'catching up people who may never have known something I'm referencing', and 'beating the plot over the reader's head like a mallet'. I'm hoping I'm in that butter zone.  
****Overlooked Supporting Cast - love the nick by the way. Part of what always drew me to both of the franchises here was the fact that, yes, the stories and settings were grand, the details were nuanced and plentiful, and the emotions ran deep, but even if you put all of that on the wayside, the characters themselves could still stand apart and be interesting. That's the tone I'm trying to match in my writing. The story everyone knows by heart is coming (with changes of my own to be sure), but while we're all getting there, let's at least enjoy the guided tour.  
Coffee - Cloud's role will be mostly unchanged...to start. I don't want to give away more than this. RAFO with the rest of us :D**

**Beyond that, I've got little else at the moment. Oh! Except for this chapter here!**

**EDIT: A lot of folks mentioned that this chapter seemed to paint Ranma in a wrong light, where everything in the relationship was his fault. One of my beta readers pointed this out, and I made a separate file for further review that addressed those concerns, and it was met with a little better results. I then accidentally uploaded the original file. Oops. Always remember to copy-edit, folks!**

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Chapter Three

Saotome School of Hard Knocks

[ ν ] - εγλ 0007, November 27

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Ranma looked at Aerith in silence for a good long time. "You," he started, "want me… to teach you, to fight…" he trailed off for a moment, thinking back to the situations where he'd been roped into tutoring martial arts skills, and how disastrously they tended to end for everyone involved. "And you're asking me that… on purpose? Are you sure you wouldn't want someone better suited, like…" he gestured vaguely, "I dunno, a drill sergeant, or a vampire, or Kami help you, my pops?"

Aerith smiled. "I don't know a drill sergeant," she replied. "I don't know a vampire, whatever that is. And your 'pops' isn't here. And if he turns into a bear with cold water, that would probably mean lots of interruptions to training, I'd bet." She leaned forward, tilting her head to look up at him. "And I'm asking you."

Ranma blinked in surprise. "All right, then," he answered after several seconds. "Couple of ground rules, if you're going to be my pupil." He stood up and took a few steps away. Aerith followed, but gave him a bit of space. "First and foremost, if we're gonna do this, we're gonna do this properly. When we're training, I'm not 'Ranma', I am your _sensei_."

"Sensei?" Aerith repeated. "What's that?"

"It's an older word in my language," Ranma explained. "Broadly it means 'Master,' but it's what martial artists in my home use to refer to their teachers. If you have to refer to me by name, you should say Saotome-_sama_, which is the honorific used for an instructor, among other things. Outside of training, I'm still Ranma. But when we're training…"

"Sensei," Aerith responded, understanding the reasons for the division.

"Good," Ranma answered. "Second thing, I want ya to ignore everything I just said." Aerith blinked, opened her mouth, and closed it again a second later. "I am, by nature, very self-confident. Some of my own abilities are powered by my ability to be confident or prideful in myself. That being said," he continued, "I'm also, on occasion, a complete idiot, especially when it comes to my pride. I've gotten better about this recently, but I'm still improving, and I know I still have room to improve.

"So if you see me being an idiot," Ranma explained, "in or out of training, I want you to call me on it. Especially in circumstances where I'm letting my pride get in front of me." Ranma's smile faded a bit. "I've had a lot of things in the last year or two that got way out of control because I was too stubborn to admit I'd made a mistake."

Aerith nodded slowly. "I understand… sensei," she answered. "And if I call you on it, and you don't stop _because _you're too stubborn?"

"Then you not only have permission," Ranma stated, suppressing a grin, "but a standing order to hit me over the head with that staff of yours."

Aerith laughed. "I'll try not to abuse that, but it's good to know the option is there."

Ranma smiled at that. "Third rule, and this one is really the most important." he said, suddenly all business. "I am not your milestone. You should not use me as a measuring stick for how well you are progressing as a martial artist. If ya judge your progress by how well you do compared to me, you're going to be _disappointed. Every. Day,_" he asserted, emphasizing the last three words. "That isn't me being proud, that isn't me trying to knock you down a peg. That's a fact of life. There is always, _always_ someone better than you at what you're good at. I am not your competition," he repeated, sticking his thumb into his chest. He turned and pointed one finger right at Aerith's forehead. "_You_ are. Every day you train, you become stronger than you were before. You become faster than you were before. You become better, in a hundred small ways, than you were before. You... compete against _you_." Ranma smiled, but it was a humorless smile. "So make sure you know what you're judging yourself against, if you start training and you think you're not gettin' any better."

Aerith thought about that in silence for a moment. It made a lot of sense, too. She stood there for what felt like a long time as she internalized that idea. "Yes, I think I understand, sensei."

Ranma nodded. "Then we start tomorrow morning, before breakfast," he announced. "Judging from how frosty the air is right now, I better find a jacket or something. Reminds me… you'll wanna dress in something a little…" he trailed off. "I don't want to say 'less girly' but basically, not a dress. Even if that's how you go around day to day, it's not the kind of outfit you want to be working up a sweat in."

"I think I can throw together something that'll work," she answered.

"One more thing," Ranma looked down at the ground. "This is really embarrassin' for me to even have to say. Because of... a lot of stupid reasons that are mostly my pops' fault and at least a little my own stupidity, I ended up with no fewer than three honor-bound engagements at the same time back home, along with one honor-contract for murder because of a misunderstanding, before I started getting them all sorted out." Ranma cringed at the memories of being hunted by Shampoo in both his forms. "What I'm sayin' is, and I don't think you'd necessarily do this, I just learn to start with this... basically, don't try to become my fiance, even if at some point it seems like a really good idea. Aside from the fact that I've got enough of that in my life right now, I think... What?"

Aerith was giggling, her hand over her mouth to keep herself from devolving into full blown cackling. "This isn't that 'stupid pride' of yours talking, is it?" she asked between laughs.

Ranma grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand. "It... _mostly_ isn't my pride talking there, no," he answered, blushing. "I have rotten luck with relationships with women. It's not an exaggeration, generally they either want to kill me because of something I did in my past, or my pops did to them... or they want to kill my existing fiances, and marry me, for the same reasons."

Aerith's laughter wound down. "I hope you don't mind me saying so, but your life is messed up if that's normal for you, and your whole planet is messed up if that's normal for everyone."

"It shouldn't be normal, that's for sure," he agreed. "Okay, let me do my best to explain this insanity..."

-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-

The rest of the evening passed calmly. Dinner was shared between the three members of the household, and Ranma explained some of the details of his past relationship issues. He then demonstrated the transformation once again to a still-disbelieving Elmyra, and Elmyra in turn presented Ranma with a worn but quite functional dark blue jacket and a woolen newsboy cap. As the evening passed, Ranma was led upstairs to the spare bedroom, which was definitely cozier than he expected, but certainly comfy.

The next morning, well before dawn, Ranma woke and walked downstairs without a sound. He stepped outside, his breath fogging in the cold morning air, as he shrugged on the warm jacket given to him by Elmyra, stuffing the cap into one of the pockets. Running through a basic _kata _of Indiscriminate Grappling showed him that the jacket was certainly flexible enough for most maneuvers; he believed he might need to shed the jacket for some of the more advanced techniques of the School.

A few minutes later, he heard an alarm clock go off inside the house, followed shortly by a loud series of thumps, and finally the silence coming from the alarm being deactivated. Ranma smirked to himself. He'd said they'd be starting before dawn, but he honestly wasn't sure that Aerith would have managed it on the first day. Taking a few deep breaths, he decided to unbutton the jacket, allowing it to keep his arms warm but leave his movement less restricted. After a few more minutes had passed, he heard her heavy steps approaching the front door, and Aerith appeared in the doorway.

She had taken Ranma's suggestion to heart, and had done away with her usual loose dress. In its place was a set of mudstained trousers, and a neutral-colored long-sleeve shirt under her red bolero jacket. A pair of light leather gloves covered her hands, and she held her staff in one hand. She still wore a pink ribbon tying back her hair. It wasn't exactly a standard issue gi, but it would do under the circumstances.

"You train like this?" Aerith asked, shivering a little.

"Not if I can help it," Ranma admitted, shrugging, "but sometimes, you can't help it. Better to learn to deal with it now than have to adjust in the middle of a real fight." Aerith nodded at that. "I need to get a good idea of what you're capable of, so I know where to start with your training. How long have you been practising with the staff?"

Aerith thought about that. "Um… three years, give or take?" she replied.

Ranma nodded. "Show me."

"What?"

"Show me," he repeated. "If you were doing a practice fight, and I wasn't here, show me what you would do. And remember, it's 'what, _sensei'_," he added, smiling slightly.

Aerith nodded, blushing at her slip-up, and stood with her staff in both hands. As she began to move, Ranma felt that he was less watching someone practice fighting and more like he was watching someone dance. Aerith's motions were fluid and graceful, and even as the staff twirled with her, he noticed little wasted movement. What surprised him most was the woman's balance; it seemed as if many of her motions should overbalance her or simply tip her over completely, yet she continued to flow through the motion and proceed to the next without a moment of hesitation.

As her unorthodox _kata _progressed, the movements became less balletic and more efficient, more aggressive, but also more wasteful. Ranma's mind couldn't help but draw a parallel between a river gently carrying a raft downstream and the same river smashing the raft against the rocks amid the rapids. The staff blurred as it passed through the air, but it looked more like Aerith was now fighting against the staff, rather than with it. She finished with what appeared to be a concerted effort against a single imaginary foe, an assault of sharp blows and rapid parries which ended with a positively brutal three-part strike; a rising swing to the groin, followed by a spinning blow to hip-height, and ending in a savage thrust to what would be neck-height of any normal person.

Aerith was glowing with perspiration, breathing heavy and somewhat labored, as she concluded, returning herself to a centered stance. After a moment, she turned to Ranma, still panting lightly, and mopped her brow with her sleeve. "What do you think, sensei?"

Ranma was, internally, impressed. Outwardly, "It's a good start. There is room for improvement, but you definitely have a good base to build upon. One moment," he said, walking over to the junk pile nearby. He rummaged for a moment before finding what he was looking for; a solid piece of rebar, nearly twice as long as he was tall.. He set it down on a slab of concrete, focused for a moment, and gave it a knife-edge chop with his bare hand. The blow split the rebar almost perfectly in two, and he grabbed the cleaner of the two metal shafts, walking back over to Aerith.

"What is that for?" Aerith asked. Ranma gave a Look. "...sensei," she added quickly.

"This is for a demonstration," he explained. "Your technique is good. Not what I'd call standard _bojutsu_, but that's not a bad thing."

"'_Bojutsu_,' sensei?"

Ranma nodded. "Traditional martial arts in my world have a lot of different roots," he explained. "I could probably go on for a while on the styles and their differences, depending on where they originated, what kinds of opponents they were likely to face, the materials they had to hand, and standard deviations over something like five thousand years of recorded human history. That, however, probably wouldn't be much use in this situation," he asserted. "So we'll get to the practical side of it. _Bojutsu_ is one of the more well known staff fighting techniques from my home, and there are significant parallels to the movements you use, but also significant differences."

Aerith considered this for a moment. "You're proposing to teach me _bojutsu_, sensei?"

Ranma shook his head. "Not quite," he answered. "Your style is different enough that trying to teach you _bojutsu_ would be like knowin' how to walk, and then someone teaching you to walk, again, by moving someone else's legs with your hands. But," he added, "there are methods you can learn that will give you better control of your attacks, techniques out of _bojutsu _that would blend well with your style, and in the end your own style would become greater for it." Aerith nodded her comprehension. "Does your style have a name?" Ranma inquired.

"I… don't think so, sensei," she answered. "I kind of… picked it up as I went. I didn't really have a tutor for it, if that's what you mean."

Ranma smiled at that. "Then congratulations, student," he declared with a trace of a laugh in his voice, "you have successfully created Gainsborough-School _bojutsu_."

Aerith glared at him, grinning despite herself, before bursting out into laughter. Ranma's chuckles joined hers. "I, Aerith Gainsborough," she exclaimed dramatically, "shall defend the world from the forces of evil, with the power of Gainsborough-style staff fighting!" With that, she flourished and raised her staff triumphantly overhead, looking like a very oddly-dressed magical girl character from one of Akane's old manga. "Oh, goddess, that just sounds ridiculous, please don't tell anyone I said that." She took a deep breath, composing herself, then remembered her initial question. "So, what are you going to demonstrate with the rod there, sensei?"

Ranma remembered himself and stood back up, setting down one of the two rebar staves, and holding the other in a grip similar to Aerith's. "This isn't exactly ideal staff material, but it should give you an idea of what I'm tryin' to show." He mentally blocked off a couple of points about a third of the way out from the center of the rebar, and mimicked the initial movements of Aerith's _kata_. "I noticed," he began, "when you move, it's like you're usin' the staff as a balancing point…" he changed direction suddenly, thrust the tip of the staff firmly at the ground, and balanced against it on one leg, "...but you don't attack…" his body weight balanced perfectly between the staff held against the ground behind him and one foot planted on the ground, the other leg snapping out suddenly in a front kick, before pushing off against the staff with both arms and twisting his body into a spinning back kick, pulling the staff with him into a sharp thrust at stomach height, "...with any other part of your body."

Aerith stood there, watching intently at the maneuver he had performed, amazed not only by his addition to her own practice, but that he had flawlessly repeated her motions up to that moment after seeing them only once! "How did you…" she started, then remembered herself again. "Sensei, how did you do that?"

Ranma smirked. "Remember I mentioned I have a lot of skill, and a little talent?" When she nodded, he continued. "That's my talent. I can usually learn new martial arts just by watchin' them be done once or twice. I said I learned to throw a punch before I learned to walk, and I wasn't kiddin' either."

Aerith goggled. There was no other word for it. Trains of thought running through her head collided unexpectedly as she tried to process the idea of someone who could effortlessly mimic motions, attacks, techniques that he had never heard of before, by looking at them being done. At that moment, she remembered his words from the previous day, that if she spent time comparing herself to Ranma she would only disappoint herself. She saw those words in a whole new light, thinking about how long it took her to not just fall over when spinning her staff.

Ranma smiled and gave her a light tap on the head. "Remember who you're competing with?" he asked casually.

Aerith blinked, realizing she'd been spacing out. "Yes, sensei," she replied quickly. "I hadn't thought about punching or kicking much… I thought it would be too risky."

"Oh?" Ranma asked, concerned. He gestured for her to continue.

Aerith nodded. "Well… aside from my usually wearing dresses," she began, "and not really wanting to give people a free show, there's a lot of people out there who use swords or knives or whatever. And there's also monsters and animals, and other things that go around the slums that aren't either one."

Ranma nodded, thinking about 'other things' and mentally filing that away for review later. "I think I know what you mean, then," he considered after a few moments. "Basically, you don't punch or kick, because you don't know the best times to do so, so doing it at all seems too high-risk for the attempt." Aerith nodded slowly, amazed at the simplicity of how he cut through to the heart of the matter. "It'll take some practice, but a lot of it is instinct. If you've got a weapon, like a staff for instance, I'd say the best opportunities would be either if something gets inside the reach of your weapon, or if you want to keep a smart opponent on their toes."

Aerith nodded again, and smiled at Ranma, but the smile was fragile and momentary. "And… then there's Shinra," she added, trying to hide her concern.

Ranma saw something in Aerith's eyes that she couldn't hide quickly enough. He remembered her rapid-fire inquiry the previous day, and realized that this was going to be important. "Tell me about them," he said quietly, taking a seat.

Aerith sat down on the concrete slab next to him. "Shinra is… I don't know what your world is like," she started. "But here… Shinra controls pretty much everything now. About eight years ago, there was a war between the Shinra company and Wutai. Everybody knows that Shinra was probably at fault, but most of the news broadcasts are run by Shinra too, so…" She paused for a moment. "Anyway, it took over a year, but SOLDIER, Shinra's military, eventually forced Wutai to surrender. And in the meantime, they killed someone… very important to me."

Ranma sat in silence, listening and trying to comprehend the idea of not so much a nation or empire but a _company, _of all things, having enough power to effectively control a whole planet. "Before then," Aerith went on, her eyes misting, "they still killed people. And since then, they've kept killing people. They have… _people_… who do nothing but make normal people _disappear_. And some of them want me for one of their stupid science projects that will just let them kill more people."

Aerith tried to keep herself together, but it was too much for her to contain. She felt her tears stinging her icy cheeks, and wiped them away on her sleeve. Ranma scooted closer to her and wrapped his arm over her shoulder. "I'm… not the best at emotions," Ranma admitted. "My pops was… _is_… an idiot that way, and saw most emotional displays as a kind of weakness. 'Cuz of that, I had about the emotional range of a teacup for a long time, but… I'm slowly getting better. For what it's worth," he continued, "I'll do everything I can to make sure they don't get their hands on you."

Aerith sniffled, looking up at him. "You don't know me," she said, trying to understand him. "You don't know _them_. You don't know why they want me, you don't know this world, you don't even _belong _here. Why are you so willing to fight for _me_?"

Ranma looked her square in the eyes. "'The first duty of a martial artist is to protect the innocent,'" he recited calmly, hearing Genma's voice echoing in his memory as he said it aloud. "I didn't always understand that when I was younger, but I figured it out the hard way. It's not about being better at fighting, it's not about being able to put your fist through a plate of steel, it's about using the strength you have to help those who need it."

Ranma smiled at her. Aerith shared at him through watery eyes, mouth open in disbelief. "How are you _real_?" she asked quietly. "How can someone like you, with all your power and your skill, how can you be so damned _noble_?"

Ranma hesitated for a moment, remembering a not-long-past version of himself. "It's not easy," he responded. "I used to be a real piece of work. I was selfish, sexist, and arrogant to the point of being blind to anyone else's feelings. About two years ago… after we'd been cursed… my pops dropped a bombshell on me, and told me he'd arranged for me to be married. I wanted nothing to do with it, I wanted to find a cure and get back to normal. Eventually, Pops knocked me out and dragged me all the way to Hong Kong… we were already a day out to sea by the time I woke up. We got back to Japan, and he chased me, on foot, all the way back to Tokyo, knocked me out again, and carried me all the way to the Tendo home, the family I was arranged marriage to.

"Nothing there started off the way it was supposed to. I showed up as a girl, he showed up as a panda, then Akane saw me in the bath by accident, which means she saw me transform back to a guy… while I was stark naked." Ranma blushed hard at the memory, still clearly embarrassed by that. "Anyway, long story short, I stuck my foot in my mouth, and I paid the price for it, because she pulverized me with the dining room table. When I woke up I didn't understand why she'd gotten riled up, and so I ended up doing it again in a different way the next day. And that was basically the first half-year or so of our relationship. I'd do something incredibly, unbelievably stupid or spiteful or mean-spirited, which would get her angry with me. She'd show that she was angry, but I wouldn't understand why. And I'm pretty sure we hated each other because of that. Eventually, I started to really understand what I was doing, and why it was awful. And I realized right then that I'd created a lot of the situations that she'd gotten angry with me over, and I hadn't taken responsibility for those. I probably didn't deserve her hitting me, but, well, stupid pride and all that.. Sometimes a punch is the only way to talk to a martial artist."

Aerith blinked away the last of her tears. "You two stayed together that long? Even though you hated each other? Why?"

"She wasn't an angel herself, don't get me wrong," Ranma went on, "but she had... issues I really should have taken into serious consideration. A couple loons in the city trying to force her into dating or marrying them because of whatever reasons they had. Mostly this one jerk named Kuno, who riled up almost the entire male population of the school she went to, and made it so that every day for several months, she would have to beat them all up in order to even get to her class. He wanted to 'conquer her', if you get my meaning-" Aerith immediately understood, and also gagged in response, "-and really didn't live in the same world as us mere mortals, i.e., one where women told him no. He got away with it because his dad was the principal of the school, and their family was loaded and could basically bribe their way out of any problems. All that and the constant undesired attention from the boys at school and elsewhere, kind of took its toll on her patience and her desire to communicate with anyone of the opposite sex." Ranma paused for a moment. "Coupled with me being... well, who I was back then, and I'd at least say that a lot of my misery early on was self-inflicted. Maybe not deserved, but I definitely wasn't making things easier on her."

"Yeah, hard to imagine a relationship like that lasting very long," Aerith commented.

"Ordinarily I'd agree with you," Ranma said, "but we actually are still together. Akane's father and mine were students under the same master… don't ask me about him, he makes me look like a saint on my worst day. When they left his tutelage, they formed separate schools of the art under the respective family names. The terms of the arrangement were that, should both families have kids, the two schools should be reunited by marriage." He looked away, trying to hide the brief flash of anger he felt. "Course, my pops didn't bother to ask me if I wanted to get married, and dropped it on me at the worst time. Nobody in Akane's family asked her, her dad and both sisters just pushed her onto me even though she had her own problems, like Kuno. But it was on the honor of our respective families, and that's…" he paused, looking for the right words. "That's important, to us, I guess. So we stuck it out. And, now at least, we've learned enough about each other that we're getting past the 'our families are both manipulative jerks' part, and actually learned about each other as people."

Aerith scoffed in protest. "Your dad is a complete jerk," she agreed. "And if you find a way back there, do me a favor and hold the door open just long enough for me to hit him, he deserves it."

Ranma laughed. "I'd let you, too," he said, grinning. "But yeah, that's who I used to be. And I live every minute of my life knowing how easy it was _not to care_ about how Akane felt when I said or did something harmful. But, I also know now that doing that, I was hurting myself too. And I made a decision. To compete, against my old self, to show that I could be better. And that's how I stay on track." He leaned back, stretching his arms. "I dunno if that counts as nobility though. Just trying to be better than I used ta be."

Aerith stared at him, still not understanding how a good person could fail so completely at realizing that they were a good person. Then her brain caught up with another part of the conversation. "Wait," she said suddenly, "she hit you with a _kitchen table_?"

"Yep." Ranma winced in memory, the blow having been a heavy one. He thought for a long moment. "How long does it take to learn to use materia?"

Aerith considered the question for a long moment. "I'm not sure," she answered honestly. "The basics can be learned pretty easily, but most people will have spell blowback for around the first year or so of learning."

"Blowback?"

"Yeah, it's... have you ever seen a lightbulb explode because too much current ran through it all at once?"

"Oh, I get it now," Ranma remarked. "Whatever you use to fuel a spell, if you use too much it becomes unstable?"

Aerith nodded. "That's part of it, yeah. Also, you need a lot of control in shaping and targeting the spell. It's very demanding to use it effectively in a fight. All of that together means it takes a lot of practice to get to the point where you can toss magic around at will in battle and not have it more or less blow up in your face."

Ranma's expression was of solid confusion. "If all of that is up to the person using the materia," he said, counting off the items on his fingers, "then what does the materia actually _do_ for this exchange?"

"It's..." Aerith gave a little bit of a huff. "Okay, so this is one of the biggest points of contention, is the _purpose_ of materia. There's been whole books written on it, but the bottom line is nobody really _knows_ for certain. The way it was told to me, the version I believe anyway, is that thousands of years ago there were humans and another species, called Ancients, who lived here on Gaia together. Humans had magical potential, but lacked the innate knowledge that the Ancients used to shape that same magical potential into spells. The Ancients crafted the first materia as a bridge for humans to access that magic."

Ranma nodded. "So it gives you the capacity to use the spell, but you still have to apply yourself to the discipline," he speculated. "Otherwise, boom in the face."

"That's more or less it, yeah," Aerith answered. "I thought you weren't going to use materia, though?"

"Better to know how and not need it," he replied, the age old axiom coming easily to his mind, "than to need to use it and not know how. So, I guess you'll be my _sensei_ for this kind of thing."

Aerith grinned. "When do you want to start learning?"

* * *

**A/N: Yeah, I'm sinking ships already, sorry folks. Something may come of this later, but... Ranma's finally come to terms with his engagement to Akane, so we're probably not gonna be jumping in the deep end here. Also... Aerith has her own stuff to deal with. So no dating shenaniganery at the moment.**

**'**_kata_**' is the term used for a martial arts training exercise. Broadly, it's an exercise that takes the practitioner through a broad range of motions and techniques of the style in question. Indiscriminate Grappling/Anything-Goes Martial Arts is difficult to envision a single kata for, partly because the premise of it is basically the same as MMA/Jeet Kune Do, which is to not necessarily have a 'style' limiting your methods, but to take what works from as many different styles as possible, and make it your own. It's basically Anime JKD with Kamehameha's thrown in for flair.  
**

**'**_Bojutsu_**' is one of the two main schools of staff fighting in Japanese martial arts, the other being **_jojutsu _**(fighting with a jo staff). There are differences and similarities. I'm kind of winging it based on memory from a demo I attended years ago, since a lot of online resources seem to bundle the two together with no regard. But at least as my memory serves, bojutsu tends towards using the staff in conjunction with unarmed blows and using the bo as an assist for movement, while jojutsu treats the jo as the primary striking implement, seeing as how it is generally a longer weapon than the bo.**

**The jacket and hat given to Ranma by Elmyra is intended to have belonged to Elmyra's husband, who is not canonically named or given an appearance at any point that I was able to find. He enlisted with Shinra's troopers during the Wutai War, but never came home. The jacket is supposed to be the standard blue fatigues that Shinra troopers wear, if that helps you imagine it. **

**Aerith's reaction to Ranma's nobility, or perceived nobility at least, is owed a lot to the surroundings Aerith deals with. I mean, take a look at the world. Virtually anyone of any level of power in Midgar, personal or political, abuses it relentlessly in the pursuit of greater amounts of power. Ranma generally doesn't do that. And when you're used to everyone being garbage, anyone who doesn't act like that, and practices their preachings to boot, it's gonna look like nobility on the surface. I'm fully aware Ranma is no saint, early saga Ranma is... problematic levels of sexist and just oblivious to the levels of distress he causes the people around him. But he grows. It takes time, but he eventually becomes... not an asshole. Still human, but who isn't?  
**

**Hope you like it! Comments welcome!**


	4. Anything Goes

**Holy carp, you guys, I'm really happy about the level of enthusiasm this has gotten so far. I was up until eleven last night editing, and because of that push I managed to get a second chapter ready for the block. Got some good progress upcoming, too! If this keeps up I *might* have another chapter ready mid-week. If that happens, that might be the last bonus chapter for a bit, but we'll see.**

**Anyway, enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter Four

Anything Goes

[ ν ] - εγλ 0007, November 28

* * *

"So, what does your day-to-day look like right now?" Ranma asked around a mouthful of breakfast.

"Hey!" Elmyra chastised, swatting at Ranma's shoulder. "Don't talk with your mouth full like that!" Ranma dutifully swallowed his mouthful of food.

"Aside from unscheduled dodging of Shinra cronies, you mean?" Aerith quipped, before taking a bite of her own meal. When Ranma nodded, "I usually go check on the flowers around midday, I'll go buy groceries when we need them, and I sometimes go… somewhere important to me," she finished quietly.

"And I'll be heading to work soon," Elmyra added. "And I will expect _you_, Ranma," she said, pointing at him with her fork, "to do something other than sit here and mope."

Ranma briefly looked taken aback, but remembered his place as a guest and nodded. "I don't suppose there's a library around I could look at?" he asked. "I'm not exactly whatcha call book-smart, but maybe I could find something that'd help me figure out a way home."

Elmyra nodded, reaching into her apron. "Thought you might say that," she replied. She pulled out a small coin purse and handed it to Ranma. "That's 150 gil in there, plus my transit pass," she explained. "My client this week is just over by Wall Market, so I don't have to deal with the trains to get there. You can get over to the station by Sector 4, that should take you above the plate. Once you're up there…" Ranma quickly grabbed a scrap of paper and began jotting down Elmyra's directions as quickly as she could. "...and the library should be across from there. Get yourself some lunch up there, and come back this afternoon."

Ranma nodded, pocketing the coin purse and the hastily cribbed directions. "Aerith, if nothing else is going on, be back here this afternoon too," he said. "We'll pick up training from there."

"Yes, sensei," Aerith nodded, smiling.

Elmyra looked between the two of them for a moment, then shrugged. "Long as you keep her safe, mind," she said in a cautious tone. "I'm off, then. I should be back before evening. Take care, you two." With that, she fastened her apron, picked up a broom and bucket, and left.

Ranma stared after her for a moment. "What does she do, anyway?" he asked.

"Cleaning service," Aerith replied. "And don't say anything about Wall Market, either."

"...what's Wall Market?"

Aerith glared at him, briefly, then shook her head. "Forgot, you're still new here," she said softly. "Wall Market is partly known as a place where there's a lot of shops and restaurants," she explained, "and mostly known for being a place where a lot of… seedier places set up. Not the kind of place any young woman should hang out."

Ranma took this tidbit of information into consideration, and revised his estimate of Elmyra's capabilities upwards. "She's probably tougher than I thought, then. So… wanna make sure I got this…" he went on, glancing at his hastily-written notes. "Clockwise goes up in number, counter-clockwise goes down, when going along the sectors, right?"

"Yeah," Aerith answered. "It's pretty easy when you get used to it. I'll walk with you to the station, okay?"

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"So… what's Japan like?" Aerith asked.

They'd been walking side by side for almost fifteen minutes. Ranma had dug his hands in his pockets out of habit, the navy jacket keeping him warm. Aerith was back in her long dress and jacket, and occasionally twirled her staff slowly, trying to mimic one of the moves Ranma had done that morning as they strolled along.

Ranma thought about that hard. "It's a lot of different kinds of things," he admitted, "it's pretty hard to summarize in a few words. Tokyo is a giant, sprawling metropolis, it's like ten million people in about four hundred square kilometers. But it's… clean," he explained. "Way cleaner than here. There are parks and trees, the trains run underground, the fish markets are the freshest catches in the world…"

"Trains run underground?" Aerith asked puzzled? "Don't the train cars fill up with smoke?"

Ranma shook his head. "The trains all run on electric power, we don't use coal for those anymore. There's Fujiyama, the mountain that you can see from just about anywhere in the whole of Japan… there's kilometers and kilometers of farmland, some going right up the side of the mountains…"

The back and forth went on between them for almost the entirety of the hour-long walk. Two blocks away from the station, a three-wheeled truck rolled by and nearly took Ranma's nose off as it went by. "Hey, ya loon!" Ranma shouted, jumping backwards. "Watch where ya going!"

Aerith looked after the truck that had almost hit them, and then turned sharply to Ranma after hearing the shouting. "Uh… Ranma?" she indicated the pothole they were both currently standing in after the near-miss. Aerith's boots hadn't been bothered by it, but Ranma's karate flats, and by extension, Ranma, were currently ankle deep in water.

And was now female.

"Oh for Kami's sake," she muttered, backpedaling out of the pothole. She lifted her feet, shaking them dry as best she could, and walked around the edge of the puddle. "Well, guess I'll be going to the library like this."

Aerith couldn't help but giggle a bit. "You certainly take it in stride," she observed.

Ranma nodded. "Not much choice, most days," she explained in a put-upon tone. "Also, it's been going on for more than two years now. If there was _ever _any novelty to it, it's long gone by now."

"You'll be okay?" Aerith asked, genuine concern in her voice.

"I'll be fine," Ranma confirmed. "Go take care of your flowers, I'll see you this afternoon."

Aerith smiled, turned and skipped a couple steps before resuming a normal walk back down the road they'd both came from. Ranma stepped across the street, careful of any other cars coming out of nowhere. She stepped up the four or five stairs to the elevated sidewalk, moved casually towards the heavy wooden doors that led to the interior of the station, and pushed the door open.

And stopped cold.

Something was wrong.

The door bounced back against her outstretched hand, as Ranma considered her surroundings. She lowered her hand, stepped out of the path of the entrance, and leaned casually against the outer wall. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath, and reached out with her senses. The energy here was chaotic, with the comings and goings of so many people. She could perceive the wake of her own energy leading back down the road she and Aerith had just walked. Aerith's energy itself felt strong, a greenish hue tinged with white, but was already well down the road and past the row of nearby buildings. Everyone else felt… dull, uninteresting. There were a few stronger sources nearby, but nothing felt out of the ordinary.

Ranma exhaled. She was being paranoid. Two years of dealing with every single problem her old man's scheming and thievery had dropped on her head had maybe left her a bit suspicious when things started going smooth. She took another breath and turned towards the station entrance.

_There_.

Ranma stopped once more, worried that if she moved before she had a fix on it this time she'd lose it for good. She held her breath, keeping her eyes closed, and let her body relax. There was a moment where she felt like she could identify every person within a kilometer by their energy alone. And in that moment, she felt something she could only identify as _red_. She focused hard on that, and locked onto the aura in her mind.

_Gotcha_, she thought, opening her eyes.

She started moving.

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It took her ten minutes of weaving in and out of the crowded streets to be certain of the source of the energy. An unkempt man, wearing a suit with no care for how he looked, and a shock of short, spiky red hair atop his head. Once she found the man, it had taken her all of five seconds to realize what about him had set off her senses.

He was following Aerith.

And now, she was following him.

She briefly considered simply sneaking up behind him and taking him out without anyone noticing, least of all Aerith. However, in that moment of consideration, she realized that the smarter option would be to find out if anyone _else_ was stalking Aerith as well. The man was tailing Aerith at a significant enough distance that she could tell Aerith would be hard pressed to spot him, even if she was aware of him. Even so, Ranma was having trouble understanding how he was keeping track of Aerith from that far away.

_He must have support,_ she thought. _Someone else… ah._

The red-head cocked his head to one side, a motion he'd been repeating every so often. Someone was feeding him info. A spotter or another tail he was tagging out with if one or the other got too close. She pulled her cap out of the jacket pocket, tugging it low over her hair and obscuring her eyes, then zipped up the jacket. She was already nearly invisible in the crowd, but decided to take one more step to make sure she could see and not be seen.

Ducking briefly into an alley, she centered herself, releasing her emotions, as her arms raised to shoulder height, wrists limp. "_Umi-Sen Ken…_" she whispered. And for all intents and purposes, vanished completely.

She stepped out of the alley, barely visible except on a subconscious level to everyone around her. The people around her would avoid running into her, but wouldn't be aware she existed beyond that. She weaved her way through the crowd, passing straight by the redhead, finding another vantage point about halfway between him and Aerith, and looking around. It didn't take her long to spot the second man. Tall, built like a boxer, with dark skin and a bald head, wearing the same suit and shirt the redhead was, but wore it like a professional. Either he was actually better at staying out of sight than he looked, or Aerith had no idea she was being followed at all.

Baldy rounded a corner, and Ranma followed. As the new street came into view, she recognized it from their earlier trek together, as being one of the last roads before the abandoned church Aerith grew her flowers in. She decided it was her time to make a move.

Baldy reached his wrist up and muttered something into it. Waiting just until he finished speaking, she stepped right up behind him and snaked one arm out, both a gold watch and a small two-way radio slipping into her palm. Ranma slid to one side, stepped into the next alley, and dropped the watch right at the mouth of the alley. She then picked up two small rocks, aware that this would be pushing the limit of the _Umi-Sen Ken_, and turned to hurl one up into the air.

The rock traveled in a perfect arc, soaring over the crowd, and striking Baldy in the shoulder just hard enough that he'd notice. The second one, thrown just a moment later, hit him in the back of the head. He reached up to brush it away, turned to see who was throwing dirt at him, and paused, suddenly noticing his arm feeling a bit lighter. His eyes scanned across the crowd, and noticing the glint of metal at the edge of the alleyway, strode towards it to retrieve his watch.

Ranma leaned back against the opposing wall as he approached, letting the _Umi-Sen Ken_ reassert itself for the moment. She took a deep breath as Baldy knelt down to pick up his watch. At that moment, Ranma tapped the man companionably on the shoulder. The man turned to look up, probably assuming it was his companion. She dropped the _Umi-Sen Ken_, and the bald man had a fraction of a moment to react. Which was not nearly enough time, as Ranma's fist was already traveling towards the man's face by the time he noticed her.

She did her best to not take joy in the pain of others, but her expressions of restraint tended to end when someone she knew was in trouble. As a result, the look of confusion on his face, followed by said face being struck into unconsciousness, was a moment that Ranma would cherish for some time afterwards. His sunglasses slid off his head with the impact and bounced on the loose gravel.

Ranma didn't bother resuming the _Umi-Sen Ken_, her emotions were now too riled up for it to have any real effect. Instead she took the two-way radio receiver, slipped it inside her hat band, and started moving again, keeping her distance.

"Rude, where are ya, I've lost sight of her," an uncultured voice drawled into one ear a moment later. Silence, as she moved at the same pace, shoulders hunched and hands in her pockets, keeping herself looking like one of the masses. "Rude, turn your mic on, yo," the voice remarked in a teasing tone. More silence. Ranma supposed the man's name could be Rude, but it sounded odd to her. "Shit! Tseng, it's Reno, Rude's down. Dropping a beacon, I'm going after the girl."

_Rude, Reno, and Tseng,_ she mentally catalogued, surreptitiously tugging at her hat, causing the radio speaker to bounce free. She let it fall on the street, and kept walking. A moment later, she saw the redhead sprint past, all pretense of stealth having been dropped. The man flicked his left arm, and a small baton slid out of his jacket sleeve into his hand as he ran.

Ranma's eyes widened briefly, but she hesitated for just a moment, in case the third one was watching. She turned at the next intersection, took three steps out of the main road, and then began running herself, turning again at the first opportunity to get back on the path.

Less than a minute later, she caught sight of the redhead again. He'd caught himself up to Aerith, and had her against the wall of a building, leaning over her with one arm casually blocking her way, talking to her. She couldn't hear him, but judging by the expression on Aerith's face, she could take a guess as to what was being said.

Ranma pulled off the hat and coat, tossing them down nearby, picked up one more rock, palming it away, and strode towards the two. As she approached, she heard the redhead's drawl "Look, lady, my partner's lyin' on the ground back 'dere and you hafta know we were followin' ya. Who else in their right minds would take on a Turk?"

"Well, that explains why you'd waste your time bothering her," Ranma spoke up, causing the redhead to spin around at the sudden interruption, "seeing how your names rhyme with 'jerk'."

Despite herself and the situation, Aerith outright laughed at that, which set off the redhead. "Fine, girly," he said. "You wanna butt in, you'll get what ya ask for." He spun, holding that same short rod in his left hand. Pressing a button, the rod extended to about the length of his arm, with a weighted metal tip and the unmistakable hum of excess voltage. "You the one who took out Rude, yo?"

Ranma attached the name solidly to the face in her memory. _Leaves Tseng, who this guy does not look like, and…_ "Yeah, Reno," she taunted, holding one palm out casually, examining her nails. "Wasn't much of a fight either. Whole thing took about three seconds."

Reno gritted his teeth, his grip on the handle of his shock baton visibly stiffer. "So, ya know who we are," he tossed back. "Think that gives you the advantage?"

"Nah," she replied casually. "I just know I'm better than you."

"If you're so good, _girly_," Reno taunted, "then why don't you already work for us?"

Ranma took a deep breath, and spotted exactly what she'd been expecting with her senses. She turned and heaved the rock as hard as she could, striking the pistol that another suited man had just drawn, knocking it out of his hand and sending it flying into the junk pile in the distance. She turned to face Reno again. "Cuz," she repeated, "I'm _better than you_."

Reno had clearly reached his limit. "Tseng!" he shouted, giving a jerk of his head. Then he charged, brandishing his shock baton. Ranma assumed a ready stance, but realized that neither of these two were taking her seriously. Reno was telegraphing his first attack so hard that it might has well have been delivered by post, and she could tell by his approach and his stance that Tseng simply did not have anything like the melee training Ranma was privy to. She was privately quite happy she'd gotten that gun out of the equation.

Reno swung a fierce backhanded strike, intending to overpower Ranma in the opening salvo. It was a good strategy, Ranma thought as she analyzed his movements, but it wouldn't work here. She took two rapid steps forward just as the swing was fully committed, the baton itself swinging harmlessly behind her, and leaving Reno's arm exposed. She braced against his wrist with one hand, and pushed hard with the other inward at Reno's elbow, using the momentum of his attack to add to her own. There was a popping sound, a scream of pain, and the shock baton spun away into the dirt as Reno's left arm fell uselessly to his side.

In a flash, Ranma raised one leg, and stomped down hard on Reno's knee, nearly dislocating that joint as well. The incapacitated redhead crumpled to the ground, as Ranma rounded to face Tseng. He froze, suddenly very uncertain of any chance of victory. He glanced between the fallen Reno, clutching at his dislocated elbow, and the shock rod laying far closer to the girl than to him. Coupled with the effortless takedown of Reno, and the lack of support nearby, Tseng decided on the better part of valor. He raised his hands in surrender, and stood aside.

Ranma looked down at Reno, still cringing in pain. "Looks like your friend there is the brains of the operation," she taunted, stepping over to the baton. She slipped one foot underneath it and flipped it up to her outstretched hand, before turning back to Tseng. "Try to keep up with me here, buddy," Ranma began. "I'm a little new in town, I see a bunch of guys in uniform, they're stalking a girl. I'm sure you got your reasons. I'm sure they might even be good ones.

"For the life of me, though," Ranma went on, "I can't understand why you want to do… whatever it is you want to do with her, when she clearly doesn't want anything to do with you. So… enlighten me, Tseng." She paused briefly, then gestured with the still-charged baton. "I can call you Tseng, right?"

Tseng shrugged. "Orders," he replied simply.

"'Orders,'" she repeated coldly. Her eyes flickered dangerously, and she took a step closer to Tseng, letting the tip of the shock rod dance in front of his face. "Not gonna be worth my effort to suggest you switch sides, would it?"

Tseng gave a curt shake of his head. "Don't even know what side that is yet," he answered. "How could I know the side is worth switching to?"

Ranma paused for a moment, considering that. "Fair enough." She turned her back on him, shouldering the shock rod. The tip of the baton continued weaving back and forth just over an inch from Tseng's face. "Since you're busy following orders, I've got one for you." There was a click, and Tseng was certain he was about to get a face full of cattle prod. Instead, the baton collapsed back into the handle, and the girl dropped it into her pocket. "I'm sure you're already aware, but your boys are gonna need some medical attention," she said. "Make sure they get it, will ya?"

Tseng blinked, swallowed, and nodded. Ranma walked back over to her coat and picked it up. "I'm sure that nothing I could say or do will make you and your boys leave the girl alone," she called out behind her. "But, next time you do, remember two things for me. First, remember this moment, with all of your friends on the ground, but very much alive and in one piece each. And second, remember this: Ranma Saotome doesn't lose." She shrugged the jacket back on, and walked away, Aerith trailing behind her.

* * *

**A/N: Umi-Sen Ken (Thousand Seas Style), one of two 'forbidden' martial arts developed by Genma Saotome in his youth. These will be elaborated upon later, but short version is that the stance Ranma entered here allowed her to erase her chi presence (which is not quite the same thing as being invisible, but it can be pretty close). Coupled with the nondescript hat and jacket, and she's basically a hole in the crowd.**

**Reno's frequent 'yo' is the best transliteration I have of an apparent verbal tic of his that didn't quite make it into the original game, but seems to have appeared in a lot of side stories and expanded universe material. In my head I kind of hear him as a Brooklyn street tough in the 20s; capable, threatening, but not the most expansive vocabulary (which is not the same thing as 'stupid').**

**I'd originally considered naming this chapter after the Paul Simon song "You Can Call Me Al", but decided against it here.**

**The Turks are most emphatically professionals. If they know what they're up against, if they're prepared, they can be formidable. The fact that they can remain a significant challenge for the party in late-game FF7 speaks volumes to me, when you're basically at the point of theoretically one-shotting gods and the like. But, like most characters in the series, they're still human, and that can be taken advantage of if they think some rando girl in the street is trying to be a hero. Reno in particular is a good foil for Ranma; cocky, self-assured, and laid back right up until the point where you get on his nerves.**

**Aerith probably could have fought off Reno on her own, but Reno wasn't on his own. Trust me, she will have her moment to shine. **

**Hope you like it! Comments welcome!**


	5. The Breath of Life, The Stream of Life

**Another week another chapter. And holy carp you guys make me feel awesome with the encouragement and everything. Speaking of encouragement...**

**AthanMortis: Thanks for these words. I know that I can't just tell you "Jump back on the horse and write" because frankly I have next to no control over my own muse, nor the comments I receive. But I know that writing is a practised art, you get better the more you do it. For what it's worth, I believe in you, you can do the thing, and if you do decide to get back into it I would be very interested in seeing your work.**

**This is another medium-length chapter... After the previous chapter, which had some tension in it, I wanted to give this one a chance to be a little more relaxed. Trust me, the action will be starting soon.**

* * *

Chapter Five

The Breath of Life, The Stream of Life

[ ν ] - εγλ 0007, November 28

* * *

"You," Aerith began, "are amazing."

Ranma preened slightly at that. "I doubt I'll get that lucky twice," she answered, glancing over her shoulder. "They're professionals. They thought I was just some ordinary girl walking by, and they underestimated me. They won't make that mistake next time. So next time I'll have to be ready for a real fight."

Aerith looked at her. "If you know they're going to try again, why let them go?" she asked, puzzled.

Ranma thought of the best way to explain it. "Because I don't know for certain," she answered finally. "They might quit tomorrow. They might respond to someone showing them a modicum of kindness or restraint. Tomorrow, they might be in a position to save my life, and choose what to do based on how I treated 'em today. The point is, I don't know." Ranma sighed, remembering herself. "Remember, I wasn't always a paragon of virtue myself. I changed, but if I'd died because of someone going for the kill, I'd have died a jerk. And I wouldn't feel right if I didn't give them an opportunity to be better." Ranma shrugged. "So… I hold back, and I try to give them an opportunity to change."

Aerith had stopped being surprised at Ranma's code of honor as of that morning, but was still impressed by her behavior. She just decided that Ranma was, without a doubt, one of the most incredible people she had ever met, and accepted each continuing action as more evidence.

"If they do try again though, then I'll be ready for them," Ranma said. "And more importantly, I'll be here before they are next time."

"How do you plan on that?" Aerith asked, concerned. "I mean, you can't exactly ask them to abduct me by appointment…"

Ranma nodded. "Would certainly make your life easier, I guess, but… no, not that." She pulled her cap on over her head again, considering how to tackle this explanation. "There's an advanced technique," she began. "It's something I was going to work up to, but I can see now that it's going to be more dangerous to go without it than otherwise. So we'll go straight to that tonight in the training session. Also... I can tell that I'm gonna need to learn to use materia, so I'm going to be doing some training as well."

Aerith nodded and continued walking before she realized that Ranma had stopped. "Something up?" she asked, turning to face her.

Ranma looked at her blankly. "Didn't you come by this way so you could check on the flowers?" she asked, pointing up at the building Aerith had walked past. It was the abandoned church they had first met in.

"Oh!" Aerith cried out, embarrassed. "I didn't realize we were here already!" She ducked past Ranma, and stepped quickly inside. Ranma followed, sitting down in one of the pews, patient and attentive as Aerith bustled about.

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"So, run this 'advanced technique' by me," Aerith inquired.

It was later in the afternoon. Ranma was wrapping up her own _kata_, having decided to wait to shower until dinner. She stood and returned to a center position, then turned to Aerith. "I am going to teach you to harness your chi," she said simply.

Aerith perked up. "Training time?"

"Training time," Ranma confirmed.

"Yes, sensei," she responded. She had found a better practice outfit, consisting of a pair of warm trousers and a denim workshirt. It was by no means flattering, but it would serve its purpose. "So, what's… you said 'chi'?"

Ranma nodded. "This is gonna take a little time to explain, so get comfy." Aerith sat down and crossed her legs. Ranma sat down as well. "Okay, so this one is getting into some of the metaphysical layers of martial arts. There is a concept among martial artists of an energy that every living thing shares, and that binds life together in a way that transcends borders, continents, what have you. There are a couple different names for it, depending on what you learn and where, but in my home it's called chi.

"Skilled martial artists can learn different ways to harness their own chi," Ranma went on. "One of the simplest methods of this is to use your chi like a sensor, detecting the movement and intent of the energy of those around you."

Aerith looked confused. "Wait, sensei, that's…" she trailed off, focusing on something in her head. "No, wait, I get it! People here have a similar belief. Well… some do, anyway."

Ranma blinked and stopped. "Can you tell me about it?"

Aerith collected herself for a moment. "There's two main lines of thought on this, so bear with me. There's an energy in our world, and I mean _in_ it, underneath the surface of the planet, that flows like rivers around the world. Shinra calls it 'mako', and Shinra believes… or at least the company wants _everyone else_ to believe… that it's harmless, that it's eternal, and that it's a clean safe source of energy and there's absolutely nothing wrong with using it." Aerith's tone let Ranma know exactly what she thought of that. "But a lot of people think that the energy is actually the life-blood of the planet, a lifestream. That it should be left where it is, and that if too much of it is consumed it will kill the planet. And us with it."

Ranma nodded. "Sounds a bit like oil, in my world."

Aerith shook her head. "No, sensei, we have that here too. This is…" she trailed off, looking away. "It's... different, though aside from people's beliefs, I don't think I could explain it to you. It's a bit complicated," she finished quietly, folding up her knees against her body.

Ranma looked at Aerith, noticing the significant change in her tone and her posture. "Is there…" she began, and then reconsidered her words. "Is there something else you need to tell me about this?"

Aerith looked up at her. "It's nothing," she said, then shook her head. "No… that's not true. It's _something_… but it's also really personal, and I don't think I can explain it right now." She sighed softly. "Sorry."

Ranma nodded. "Do you want to keep going on this then?"

"That's… part of the thing, though," Aerith said softly. "There's a thing about mako or the lifestream or whatever that I need to tell you about, but I need you to do me a big favor." Ranma nodded, waiting. "I'm going to tell you a really, incredibly important secret, about me and about what you're talking about. And after I tell it to you, I need you to promise me that you won't tell anyone else about it, or ask me for more information. I know that's a lot, and I feel awful, but for me this is really private stuff."

Ranma blinked once, then raised her right hand to one side, and placed her left palm over her ample chest. "On my honor as a martial artist," she began, "I do so swear that the secret you reveal will be kept by me and that I shall not pry further into its nature." With that she placed both hands together and bowed.

Aerith was stunned by the solemnity of the vow she had just witnessed. She watched Ranma carefully for any sign of hesitation or discomfort, any flash of humor or sarcasm. There was none. "Okay then," she replied, "that was a bit heavier than I intended it to be, but okay." Aerith took a moment to plan out what she was about to say. "I can… kind of already do that 'chi sensor' thing, a little, but not with people. It's… how I know how to take care of the plants. They talk to me, I guess… they tell me what they need. I know that sounds stupid, but it's true."

Ranma nodded in response, smiling a bit. There was a tense silence for several long moments as Aerith tried to piece together Ranma's reaction. "Wait, you _knew_?" she demanded loudly.

Ranma's smirk widened. "I _suspected_," she explained. "Your world is different enough from mine that I wasn't certain it was the same thing, but I noticed it today in particular when you were caring for the flowers in the church."

"And…" Aerith tried to keep accusation out of her tone, "you weren't going to say anything?"

"Wasn't my place," Ranma confirmed, crossing her arms beneath her chest. "Still ain't."

Aerith was shocked at the simplicity of it, but decided to accept it and move on. "So, you're saying I can use that ability and sense people?"

"That and more," she replied, "but we'll get to the big stuff later on. If you've learned to do that much already, even subconsciously, then we might be able to start expanding your skillset."

Aerith grinned happily at that. "So, how does this work, sensei?"

Ranma thought about that for a minute. "Well, teaching you the way I learned would probably result in you being traumatized for life and Elmyra beating me to death with my own detached leg," she said with a completely deadpan expression. "Instead, we're-" she was cut off by Aerith unsuccessfully stifling her laughter. "Hey, you think I'm joking? My old man taught me by ambushing me in my own bed before dawn, stealing my food off of my plate, and pinching my lunch money before school. I had to learn it just so I wouldn't starve."

Aerith was stuck between giggling at the first mental image and abject horror at the second. "Then I'm really glad I have a much better sensei," she reassured between chuckles.

Ranma laughed a little bit at that, and then snapped her fingers in realization. "You said you can hear the plants, right?" she asked.

Aerith nodded, then shook her head. "Maybe 'hear' isn't the right word for it," she began, but Ranma waved her into silence.

"The words don't matter, just show me," Ranma said quickly.

Aerith looked around for a moment, puzzled, and realized what Ranma was referring to, one of the big planters she took care of near her home. She stood and walked quickly over to it. "Never done this with someone watching me, so…" she trailed off, shaking her head. "No, I can do this." She set the staff down, and closed her eyes, focusing her attention to the plant, trying to hear its voice, its energy. It was more difficult today, for some reason. It felt like Ranma was making a lot of noise behind her, and she could barely hear the orchid plant's voice with everything that was going on behind her. Maybe if she-

_Wait_, she thought. _How can I hear _Ranma _right now?_

Aerith took a deep breath, and refocused her attention. Suddenly, she could feel the energy of all of the flowers at once, a deep and refreshing sea of pastels and brilliant green, harmonized flutes and woodwinds playing in unison. All of that, however, paled in comparison to the bonfire of energy behind her, a one-woman chorus of jade and crimson, a powerful bass drumbeat that nearly overwhelmed her with its intensity. She turned toward it, eyes still closed, and felt the source of the energy move a bit. Her head tracked the movement, and it began to shift rapidly in intensity and location. But she had a feel for the energy pattern now, and she reached behind her to grab her staff, the tip pointing unerringly at every location the energy settled.

Then the energy vanished completely. She focused hard, searching for that wavelength, anything beyond the flowers and the ground beneath her feet. But it was as if Ranma had simply disappeared. She opened her eyes, and glanced around at the field in front of her. There was nothing.

"Boo."

Aerith leaped fully five feet in the air, landing awkwardly but on both feet, and turned herself to face the noise that had startled her, staff raised across her body in a defensive stance. It was Ranma. "Wha-" she breathed, panting her way through the sudden adrenaline rush. "How… how did…"

"Chi sensing ain't foolproof," Ranma offered by way of explanation. "But you're definitely a natural at it. I'd guess that unless you run across someone who can do what I just did, you're gonna be able to pinpoint individual people from the next sector over once you get practised at it. Good reaction, by the way."

Aerith struggled for a moment with the sudden shift in the topic. "Wait, sensei," she said, outstretching her hand and taking several deep breaths. "You're not a _flower_! How did I do that?"

Ranma grinned, lifting her arms and crossing them behind her head. "My guess? You've _always _been able to do that," she answered. "You just didn't know it yet. Cuz the only thing I did over there was flare my chi and run around the place."

"...always…?" Aerith asked, dumbfounded. Despite the elation of learning something incredible like this, she felt old memories rise up from the depths, and crumpled to her knees. "Oh goddess… I could have… saved them… I could have done something when they found me…" Her staff clanged to the ground, forgotten.

Ranma stepped over the staff and knelt down in front of Aerith. "I know this is… not an easy thing to hear, but…" Ranma sighed, pulling Aerith up gently by her shoulders to face each other. "You couldn't possibly have known, then, what you know now. You are just now coming into the realization of what you are truly capable of. And if I'm any judge, you've only scratched the surface of that potential. But," she asserted sharply, "that does not mean that you should have known sooner, or that you did the wrong thing, or any other but-if you might be saying in the back of your head right now. Don't beat yourself up over some hypothetical version of your own past. What matters is what you're going to do with that knowledge now that you have it."

Aerith nodded and stood up slowly, Ranma following suit. "You really are something else, sensei," she said softly, retrieving her staff. "So… I guess that's not everything? You're going to teach me to be better at this? Any plans how yet?"

Ranma thought for a moment. "Got a couple ideas, yeah. But that'll have to wait for now."

"Why?" Aerith asked.

"Because -" Ranma began, but was cut off.

"Hey you two!" a familiar voice called from down the path.

"- your mom is just getting home," Ranma concluded. "And after she gets settled in, we're going to tell her what happened today."

Aerith blanched for a moment at the idea of telling her mother in detail how much danger she had gotten herself into, but realized the sense in Ranma's words, and nodded her agreement.

-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-

"Oh, dear," Elmyra said in what could only be described as a motherly tone to Ranma. "I'd really hoped you wouldn't run afoul of the Turks so soon, but I can't tell you how happy I am to know that you were there to keep my girl safe."

"Mo~om," Aerith complained. "It's not like I'm a helpless little girl, Reno just caught me off guard."

Ranma smiled and shook her head. "It's nothing," she responded to Elmyra. "I ain't much good at many things, 'cept fighting. If me fighting keeps her and others safe, I'll fight."

Elmyra nodded and spooned out some curry and rice to each plate on the table. "So you didn't get to the library today, then?" She asked Ranma.

"Nope," Ranma affirmed. "Probably give that another try tomorrow."

Aerith grinned sheepishly. "Yeah, after Ranma shut down those jerks earlier, it seemed like a better idea to get somewhere familiar and safe. After that, she and I got into the topic of training more. Did a little of that, and we were just finishing up when you came up the way," she summarized.

Elmyra nodded her understanding. "So," she began in a well-practiced tone, "what did you learn at fighting class today?"

Ranma glanced over at Elmyra to try to figure out how serious she was being. Aerith, on the other hand, was caught between a giggle and a frown. "Mom, I'm not in school anymore, jeez!" she said, blushing in embarrassment.

Ranma chuckled. "Aerith is an excellent student," she answered honestly. "Talented and very capable. I've learned and adapted techniques from dozens of different styles of combat, but creating a combat style from scratch, on your own, without prior influence… It takes an incredible amount of dedication. I don't know if I could have done the same so early in my life."

Aerith looked puzzled at that. "Ranma," she started with a gentle smile, "How old do you think I am?"

Ranma blinked at that and looked down suddenly. "Oh, hell," she muttered, momentary flashes of every time in her life that she had been asked this question and gotten it wrong. "I… assumed you were my age, or near enough to it… and to answer the next question, I'm seventeen."

Elmyra looked genuinely shocked. "So much..." she whispered, "for one so young to go through."

Aerith nodded her agreement. "Ranma, don't take this the wrong way, but if the circumstances were different, you would still be too young for me, I think. I'm twenty two," she admitted quietly.

Ranma looked between the two women. Then Elmyra raised her voice, "Well, I'm not giving out my age that easily, but you're _way _too young for me by far!" Ranma snickered at that, before erupting into a fit of the giggles. Aerith joined in, and soon all three had devolved into full blown laughter.

* * *

**A/N: Ranma's specific age is never given, that I recall, and even the fandom sites and wikis don't appear to have a solid numeric value for how old he is... but from what I was able to determine, he's generally agreed to be sixteen years old at the start of the saga. It's reasonable to assume that he might have aged a year in the span of the story. and even a year's time can grant some much needed growth.**

**Umi-Sen Ken in action again during the chi-sensor training. I don't recall if 'This is how Ranma learned chi-sensing' was ever explicitly covered in the series, but... well, let's be real. Genma's a jerk and it probably went down very similar to that.**

**Speaking from personal experience, it's sometimes a rush to learn to do something that you apparently always were perfectly capable of. At the same time, finding out ten years too late that something you just realized you always could have done, you could have also done ten years ago and every day since, that might have made your life a lot simpler... it can have some emotional blowback. I admit for this one I'm kind of writing from my own life, but that's kind of the point, to write what you know. And that's a feeling I can definitely put to words.  
**

**This chapter is also to further demonstrate that Aerith is not another fiance candidate. Aside from being from a completely different world, aside from the age difference, that's not the relationship Ranma and Aerith have. Theirs is occasionally student/teacher, and occasionally bodyguard/target, but so far it seems to be falling under a kind of slightly skewed older/younger sibling dynamic.**

**Hope you like it! Comments welcome!**


	6. Not All Who Wander Are Lost

**Wow, a lot of attention again. Thank you all so much, and I hope you all keep reading and commenting, it's making me happy to see all of this.**

**I want to address something brought up in a couple comments, about how Ranma is not behaving as he would in canon, and the Umi-Sen Ken and Yama-Sen Ken were sealed at the end of their arc. And, yes, that's true. This Ranma is using the sealed arts, though. He behaves differently. He is somewhat more self-aware, introspective, maybe a little more refined. He is still emphatically Ranma, even in the face of these changes. I have a very good reason for this, I'm waiting for the right moment to tell this story. Trust me, there's a great deal of method to my madness, I'm world-building and character-building, there is a *lot* of build-up going on here, I have bits of reveal that are going to be dropping between now and... some unspecified point in the future. Be patient with me. :)**

**Thanks also to Kariston Draconis for pointing out my typo in the previous chapter regarding Aerith's Age. I must have misread it when I was wiki-diving. Anyway, it's been corrected.**

**For now, enjoy the show!**

* * *

Chapter Six

Not All Who Wander Are Lost

[ ν ] - εγλ 0007, December 5

* * *

It had been a week since Ranma's arrival. He had fallen into an easy routine of training Aerith in the mornings and evenings, occasional practice with basic materia and spellcasting, and more or less being a bodyguard the rest of the time. He had also gained a reputation with the regular folks that lived nearby of being a capable young man, and had earned a few gil doing odd jobs for the locals. Elmyra continued with her own work in the day and cooking hearty meals for the three of them. Ranma and Aerith had both made it to the library earlier that week, but despite a thorough raid of the scientific books, none of the available topics covered "how to get home if accidentally transported to another planet." A further two days of research had turned up nothing of consequence, and Ranma was seriously considering abandoning the attempt until he could get more information elsewhere.

The temperature was starting to drop rapidly as winter took hold. Even in the slums, relatively insulated as they were, the cooler air was beginning to take its toll on Aerith's flowers, and she had started to harvest the most vulnerable ones from her planters to preserve and sell later. Ranma, by way of gratitude for their continuing hospitality, had decided to help in gathering the flowers with Aerith.

"How long will they keep like this, anyway?" Ranma asked, carefully tying together a bundle of flower stems.

Aerith looked over at the small basket Ranma was holding. "Like that," she indicated the bundles lying flat in the basket, "a day or two at most before they wilt. Bundled and hung with the stems up, they'll dry gently and be preserved, and can keep for months." Aerith smiled, gently pruning an errant branch with her shears. "It's how they used to dry herbs and spices in the old days, too, before the factories did it."

Ranma considered that, and suddenly found himself wondering if that was how it had been in his world. Aside from Kasumi and Ukyo, he hadn't known many people with a dedicated history in cooking, and wondered if either of them would be able to tell him anything historical. "How much do these usually go for?" he wondered absently.

"A gil or two," she replied, not realizing Ranma's question wasn't serious. "Five for the roses, because they're supposed to be romantic, and even a dried rose looks pretty. It's not a lot, I know, but it helps keep us fed."

Ranma nodded his understanding, . "I… I don't want to be an inconvenience to you two," he said quietly. "The Tendos, Akane's family, put up with me and my old man for over a year, before all this happened. And between his meddling and my stupid pride, I ended up costing them a lot of money. If you need me to, I'll go find a job myself," he said quietly.

Aerith shook her head. "I've been doing this for a couple of years already," she explained. "And you are doing quite enough, keeping me safe while I'm out and teaching me about chi and better combat techniques. Honestly, we're getting the better part of the deal, I think."

Ranma smiled, somewhat reassured, but promised himself that he would still try to find a way to earn them some money soon. If he was going to be stuck here for any length of time, it would be important to know how to survive on his own in a worst case scenario. For now, though, he continued helping with the flowers.

By the time Aerith and Ranma had finished hanging the flowers about the lower floor of the house to begin drying, it was midday. They met up with Elmyra in Wall Market to have lunch at a noodle bar, and chatted lightly. Ranma understood Aerith's initial trepidation about the place, especially considering the blatant, eye searing neon signage for some place called the Honey Bee Inn, which he immediately did his best to ignore. Far from being a prude, he simply did not agree with the objectification of women that way, and it reminded him in no small part of Happosai's particular perversions.

"You could probably find good money as a bouncer," Aerith was saying, "if you wanted to, anyway."

Ranma had a bizarre mental image of himself in a neon jacket, shorts, and padded gloves, knocking people senseless for money. He dismissed that thought. "Eh, I dunno," he considered quietly. "Don't think the outfit would work for me."

Aerith stifled a laugh. "What would a bouncer in your world dress like?"

"Depends on the place," Ranma replied, thinking. "The kinda bars that you would find in a rough part of Tokyo might just have street clothes or a special shirt or jacket, if that. More upscale places might-"

"RANMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Ranma instinctively looked around him at the familiar echoes. "That can't be… Ryoga?" he said, refusing to believe his own ears.

A familiar blur of yellow and green burst through a wall of scrap metal, leaving a neat, almost circular hole in the garbage heap. The blur landed on the road off to one side, resolving into the shape of another teenager, wearing traveling clothes and a heavy knapsack, a large umbrella strapped to his back.

"Ryoga!" Ranma exclaimed happily, nearly weeping in joy. "Buddy, I can't even tell you how good it is to see a familiar face right now-"

"PREPARE TO DIE!" the boy shouted.

"Oh, crap," Ranma sighed, "not again…"

Aerith was completely lost. "Friend of yours, Ranma?" she asked sarcastically.

Ranma nodded hesitantly. "Depends on the day of the week, sometimes, but I call him a friend," he explained. "At least, when I don't call him enemy, anyway."

Aerith paused at that. "If it wasn't you, it wouldn't make sense, that's for sure," she said in a wry tone.

Ryoga charged, and Aerith frankly had difficulty spotting him one footstep to the next. The boy moved like the wind, each step he took closing the distance far more than she would have thought possible. Ranma shoved Aerith indelicately to one side, nearly causing her to stumble, as Ryoga drew the umbrella from his pack and swung wildly at Ranma. A few townsfolk stopped to observe the fight, always grateful for free street theater.

"Ryoga!" Ranma shouted, dodging the initial attack. "I know we've had our differences -" dodge, sidestep, duck "- but I need you to pay attention for a minute -"

"Like hell!" he responded angrily, thrusting the umbrella forward like a rapier.

Ranma hopped up and casually landed on the outstretched umbrella, nearly overbalancing Ryoga's thrust. He crouched down and flicked him square in the forehead. "Look around you, bonehead!" he yelled in the other boy's ear.

Ryoga ignored him, face flushed as his anger boiled over. He flipped the umbrella up sharply, flinging Ranma into the air. "I've chased you all over Tokyo, you coward," he growled as Ranma landed nearby. "There's no way I'm going to stop now that I've found you!"

He swung again and again, each blow deflected or deftly avoided by Ranma. Ranma didn't appear to be injured or even close to being hit as far as Aerith could tell, but he certainly was getting worn down by the aggressive onslaught. She watched as Ranma leaped backwards, trying to gain a little distance.

"Running away again, are you?" Ryoga spat, charging in.

Ranma stood his ground, squaring his stance and raising his arms. He took a deep breath, and just as Ryoga closed the gap again, Ranma shouted, "_FREEZE!_"

Something in that shout reached in and curled around Aerith's spine, unable to move more than her eyes and her lips. She glanced around, confused to see the onlookers also stock-still and unmoving. Even Ryoga ground to a halt, clearly pulling against whatever force had petrified them all, as his arms and legs practically vibrated with effort.

Ranma took a step forward, snatched the umbrella from Ryoga's almost unresisting grip, and cradled it in both hands. "Now that I've got your undivided attention, Ryoga," Ranma said quietly, but with enough force to carry, "I want to make sure you understand something very, very important."

"What?" Ryoga grumbled out between his clenched teeth.

Ranma frowned, and decided there was only one option. "This!" He lifted one arm suddenly, the umbrella held over his head like a sword. "Ain't!" He twirled the umbrella in that hand, now upside down, tip facing the earth. "TOKYO!" He finished, thrusting the umbrella down, the tip spearing through the asphalt like paper.

Aerith felt whatever force held her in place dissipate, and noticed the rest of the crowd of onlookers rubbing at joints or muscles, clearly still confused, but not willing to let go of such a grand drama before it was finished. Ryoga, having been mid-stride when he came to a halt, suddenly toppled over.

"You expect me to fall for such a simple ruse?" Ryoga spluttered angrily from the ground, returning slowly to his feet.

"Tokyo isn't a fifty kilometer wide slum, Ryoga," he replied evenly, but his temper was strained. Aerith stood nearby, but gave the two enough clearance in case they started their fight all over again. Ranma gestured around at various points as he spoke. "Tokyo doesn't have an enormous metal plate blotting out the sun and the sky. Tokyo doesn't have a gigantic pillar in the middle of the city, with a train running around it in a spiral, to climb up to the top of the plate sitting on top of that pillar. And even though I know there's an air force base in Tokyo, I promise you, Tokyo does not put the spare parts for their planes in a _pile,_ twenty _meters_ high, _right next to a noodle bar!_"

Ryoga snorted. "Fine, we're not in Tokyo," he said resignedly. "What of it? Revenge knows no borders!"

Ranma pinched the bridge of his nose. "Ryoga, I'm tryin' to be nice today, because you are seriously not understanding the scope of your troubles," he said quietly. "But I see a puddle of water over there," he gestured to one side, with a nasty glint in his eye, "and unless you want me to drag your body through it and then _sell what's left of ya to the noodle shop for a quick buck_, you better shut up and pay attention."

That got Ryoga's attention. "You wouldn't dare," he declared, though there was an audible waver in his voice.

"Try me, _P-chan_," he replied, his tone low and steady. "I have had a very, very trying week, and despite the fact that I am actually really happy to see you here, I am not in the mood for games, and I do not want to fight _you_, or _anyone else_, today."

Ryoga hesitated for a long, tense moment. "Truce?" he offered, extending one hand.

"Truce," Ranma agreed, and took the hand, pulling Ryoga into a simple but genuine hug. The onlookers began to disperse, sensing that the play had run its course. "You and I get back to Tokyo, and on my honor I will give you a free hit and I will smile while you do it."

Ryoga smirked at that. "I'm gonna hold you to that," he said almost jovially. "So if this isn't Tokyo, where are we? Yokohama? Kyoto? Kobe? Osaka?"

Ranma blinked in amazement. "Kami, he can't be serious," he muttered under his breath. He turned to face Ryoga. The look on the lost boy's face told him the answer. "Kami, he's serious... Okay, I'm gonna just tell it to you straight, buddy, we're not even in Japan anymore."

Ryoga snorted in disbelief. "China?" he asked cautiously.

Ranma shook his head. Aerith approached carefully. "This is Aerith, and she tells me I'm in some place called Midgar." Ranma thought for a moment. "How did you get here anyway?" he asked Ryoga.

Ryoga grinned and rummaged through his knapsack. After a moment, he pulled a well-worn but still very legible book from the depths of his belongings.. "_I_… used a _map_!" he said proudly, turning to the appropriate page.

Ranma gestured to it, and Ryoga handed him the book. There was indeed an extremely detailed, hand-drawn map on old, yellowed pages. To his credit, the map indeed contained all of the landmarks you would expect from a map of Japan. Mountains, farmland, rivers and lakes, all the major cities marked out. Unfortunately, it was very definitely, obviously, not Japan.

"You followed… _this _map," Ranma said doubtfully, flipping through a few pages, "and _this map…_ led _you_… here," he said flatly, pointing to the ground beneath them.

"Of course," Ryoga replied. "I'm not an idiot, ya know!"

Ranma glared at him. "Then you wanna tell me how you got here by following the map to the Misty Mountain?" He held up the front cover, which was a faded red, and read 'The Hobbit' on the front. "This is _Middle-Earth_! Not regular Earth, and definitely not Japan!" He sighed in frustration, rubbing his face with his free hand. "Fine, whatever, you're here now, and we'll deal with it. Aerith, this is Ryoga, he's kind of an old friend, yadda yadda. I know you probably have a lot of questions, but could we have a minute or two just to get everything straightened out?"

Aerith nodded, smiling, and took a few steps off in one direction. "So, how do we get back to Japan?" Ryoga asked, clearly trying to keep his emotions in check.

"I'll be honest, Ryoga," Ranma started, "I haven't got a single clue yet. I thought when I saw you coming down that landfill, you'd come ta find me because you'd figured out I was missing. I've been here eight days already, and as far as I can tell we ain't even on Earth right now."

Ryoga glared at him. "You're telling me that I _walked_ to another planet?" he said, indignant. "If you start telling me we're on Iscandar or Zentraedi or some crap like that..."

"No, this ain't a joke, Ryoga," Ranma insisted. "I still don't know what this planet is called, but the stars don't look the same here, the technology is different, and I've seen the maps they've made of the world. None of the continents even resemble what we're used to. The history is different, there's no countries anymore here, it's all run by this big company called Shinra." Ranma looked over his rival, who had softened his expression somewhat, before taking out a coin purse and passing a handful of coins to Ryoga. "Look, buddy, my situation here is pretty flimsy right now. I can't look after you here, but I'm not going to leave you empty handed either. The money here is called gil, not yen. This should be enough for you to get a meal and a place to stay the night."

Ryoga examined the strange coins, which had more in common with old _ryo_ than yen to his eyes, before pocketing them. "There's more," Ranma continued quietly, before Ryoga could say anything. "This place is… _savage_, compared to Tokyo. Ordinary folks go around with swords and guns. There are dangerous criminals who walk the streets, bold as they please. And from what I can tell," he said, glancing around meaningfully, "the company that runs this city is corrupt and acts like the Yakuza with better publicity and less honor."

Ryoga blanched visibly at that. "This place is that bad, huh?" he asked quietly.

Ranma nodded. "I know you an' I don't always see eye to eye," he said. "But I've seen stuff here that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. If you're here, then you need to understand that I wouldn't have actually sold you as food." He looked down at the ground. "But others _would_, and they wouldn't even blink twice at the idea. This is not the kinda place you want to be_ caught out in the rain_, if you take my meaning. Don't tell people here about P-chan, don't tell people where you're from… and don't trust the Shinra company. Got it?"

Ryoga nodded, his face grim. "I can't believe I'm about to say this, but…" he paused, looking away. "Thank you, Ranma."

Ranma's jaw practically fell away. "You… did you just…"

"You're not getting a second one," Ryoga cut him off. "I'll see you around." With that, he retrieved his umbrella and departed.

Aerith looked at Ryoga's retreating back, and then turned to Ranma. "What in the world did you do just then?" she asked, still confused. "I couldn't move at all, and it looked like everyone else around had the same thing."

Ranma looked shocked for a moment. "Crap, didn't mean for that to hit everyone… Okay, so there's a bit of a story to that," he started. "Years ago, Pops developed two different martial arts styles, the _Umi-Sen Ken_ and the _Yama-Sen Ken_. Without going into too much detail, both styles were developed with thievery in mind. The analogy is that of a house, with Umi-Sen Ken representing a burglar who sneaks in and catches you unaware, while Yama-Sen Ken is more like a robber who brazenly enters through the front door and overpowers the inhabitants.

"That was the opening gambit of the _Yama-Sen Ken_," Ranma continued. "It's a chi-infused shout designed to stun the opponent and give the user an uncontested opening. I'd intended to only hit Ryoga with it, but I guess I put a little too much power behind it."

Aerith considered that for a long moment. "Jeez… if your father developed not just one but two different styles, based on being a thief? That just feels… shady."

Ranma nodded his agreement. "Don't get me wrong, though," he replied. "Developing even one unique martial arts style is no mean feat. Developing two, before you even master the one you're actively being trained in? Pops may be an awful human being, but he's got talent in the art."

Aerith looked puzzled for a moment, examining his words carefully. "Wait, was that how you snuck up on me last week?"

Ranma blinked in confusion, but then remembered the first day of training her chi senses. "Yeah, well spotted, by the way," he replied, and Aerith felt no small amount of pride at having picked up on that detail. "The vanishing trick is the opening gambit of _Umi-Sen Ken_, and if done right it cloaks your chi presence. You can still be seen, but there are other ways to deal with that."

Aerith nodded, but decided to change the subject, not wanting to further consider the senior Saotome's capacity for exploring the depths of humanity. "So, is he going to be okay?" she asked Ranma, gesturing in the direction Ryoga walked off in. "He's your friend, we would have offered to take him in too…"

Ranma shook his head. "He's even more stubborn than I am," he said. "And if he'd agreed to live under the same roof as me, we'd probably put holes in your walls. I'd rather not do that. There's also the fact that he'd probably have gotten lost. Again."

"Why do you say that?" Aerith asked.

Ranma took a deep breath. "This is gonna take a while to explain…"

* * *

**A/N: Yep, Ryoga's in town! I don't plan for him to be crucial to the story, but he will show up from time to time (as is his wont in the original saga as well). Ryoga comes equipped with massive issues and a virtually indestructible body thanks to the absurd training he's been through. I've probably pushed his directional insanity way past the logical limit, but the characters in Ranma 1/2 frequently lack either limits, or logic, so I feel that's probably fine.**

**In all honesty, this scene between Ranma and Ryoga is actually what prompted the whole story. The chapter title is a deliberate reference to the rather famous line from Gandalf, and also the fact that Ryoga is frequently referred to as the Lost Boy. I wrote this scene about seven weeks ago now, with Ryoga and Ranma arguing over a map of Middle-Earth, while stuck somewhere that definitely was neither Tokyo nor Tolkien. The story expanded out from there in both directions. I've got a lot more ahead too!**

**Yama-Sen Ken roughly translates as Thousand Mountains Style, while ****Umi-Sen Ken ****roughly translates as Thousand Seas Style. Umi-Sen Ken and Yama-Sen Ken are sister styles of martial arts developed by Genma Saotome (Ranma's father) in his youth. They are both developed around the concept of thievery, but approached from different directions. Envisioning the opponent as a house, Umi-Sen Ken acts as a burglar, sneaking in under cover of darkness and making off with the valuables, while Yama-Sen Ken is the brazen robber, smashing down the front door and looting at will. To that effect, the opening move or gambit of Umi-Sen Ken is a technique that erases the user's chi presence, allowing them to sneak up on an opponent in plain sight for a chance to strike at one's target of choice unhindered. Conversely, the opening move of the Yama-Sen Ken is a chi-infused shout, a word of command that either disorients or outright halts the movement of the target, allowing the user to charge in and land a vicious attack.**

**The outfit imagined up by Ranma at the beginning of the chapter is referencing the one worn by Sion Barzahd, the protagonist of another Squaresoft game, The Bouncer.**

**Ryo is an archaic form of coinage in Japanese history. There's some fluctuation in its historical value, but broadly, it was supposed to be a unit of value equal to the amount of rice required by one adult to survive for one year (roughly twenty bushels). Gil as a currency has been fairly infrequent in its actual depiction, but when characters use abilities like Coin Throw/Toss Gil, Bribe, etc. in FF7, the depicted coinage is to my mind fairly similar to a ryo. As a result, that's my headcanon and I'm sticking to it.**

**Hope you like it! Comments welcome!**


	7. In The Beginning

**New chapter! Thanks again everyone for your comments and your feedback, I appreciate it. This week has been difficult for me, mostly for little things that built up rather than any single event. The good news is that I think I've got things under control. A quick update about the upcoming releases... I am once again a chapter ahead on my editing, and I will probably be very busy come Thanksgiving weekend. Chapter 8 will go up on time; chapter 9 will more than likely post the day before Thanksgiving. December will probably follow my Sunday posting goals. **

**Taking a moment here to answer a few particular comments...  
violastrum: I have some very particular plans regarding Ranma and the Materia. Please wait and see. :)  
Unrepentant Pedant: Ryoga is _probably_ going to be the only NWC member to show up in this story. I appreciate that a lot of Ranma stories have everybody and their grandparents showing up. This will not be that kind of tale. At the absolute maximum, maybe one other character will show up from Nerima, but I admit I have not yet planned out as far as that point.  
babaga: I'd honestly forgotten about the 'adjusted prices' for Aerith's flowers. I tend to avoid that area nowadays in my playthroughs, it bothers me... suffice it to say that I have a problem in general with the idea of brothels, more particularly with ones that are run by people like Corneo. Sex work is one thing. Probable slavery is another.  
**

**I think that's all for now. Anyways, enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter Seven

In The Beginning

[ ν ] - εγλ 0007, December 9

* * *

It was early evening. Aerith had packed up a number of flowers, and placed them in her basket. "That should be everything I need," she said to Ranma and Elmyra as she slung her staff behind her. "I'll probably be back late, so don't wait up."

Ranma was still doubtful. "Ya sure you don't want me to come along?" he offered.

Aerith shook her head. "People see a flower girl with a personal bodyguard, and they'll assume something's fishy," she replied. "Besides, that's not the only stop I need to make tonight, and I'm going to need to be alone for that, too. I know you agreed to protect me, but there are a few things that a girl needs to take care of herself."

Ranma was not convinced, but nodded his agreement. "Stay safe then," he said, as Aerith stepped out the front door. He turned in his chair and went back to work on the shock baton he had taken from Reno, trying to see if he could modify it.

Elmyra brought a bowl of soup to the table. "Are you going to be okay, dear?" she asked.

He nodded, paused, shook his head, paused again, and shrugged. "I'm pretty sure Aerith will be okay," Ranma answered after a long delay. "Even without my training, she's survived a long time here. I just don't like feeling useless. Like I said, fightin' is one of the few things I'm any good at."

Elmyra nodded, and gave him a gentle hug. "For what it's worth, Ranma, you're far from useless. And Aerith does one of these trips around this time of year, every year." She let out a sigh. "She won't even let me go with her, so don't feel bad about it."

Ranma considered that in silence for a long moment. "I don't want to pry…" he began.

"Yes you do," Elmyra countered, a sly smile on her face. "And I don't blame you. You're here in a place you don't know, trying to get home, and the one person who's been kind to you so far is keeping a secret. I'd want to know too."

Ranma was more than a little surprised at that. "Why would you tell me all this…" he started to say, and then it clicked. "You know."

"I know," Elmyra confirmed.

Ranma smirked. "Then I'm definitely not gonna pry," he replied. "If you or she tell me, that's your business. But you two haven't pushed into my personal stuff, and I'm gonna respect that."

Elmyra smiled, and wandered off to busy herself in the kitchen. Ranma stared after her in silence for a long moment, then shrugged and returned his attention to the work bench, carefully dismantling the shock baton.

-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-

"Hi, mom."

Aerith stood at the foot of the steps leading up to the platform of the Sector 7 train station, flower basket in hand and her head bowed. "One more year… and I still miss you." She set down her basket, and pulled out a dried long-stem rose, with a fresh yellow flower wrapped carefully around the stem. She knelt solemnly, and set the two flowers down on the first step. She clasped her hands together, offering a quiet prayer, and for a rare few moments, in Sector 7, there was peace. She bowed her head, stood back up, and dusted off the hem of her dress.

"Most of the year went by… pretty much the same way it usually does," she said quietly. "Been keeping out of Shinra's hands, growing flowers, and… _talking_. Something kind of unexpected happened a couple weeks ago… this boy showed up from out of nowhere, and from what he's been saying, he's from another planet." Aerith shuffled her feet uncertainly. "And I think I believe him, there's so much that's different between what he knows and what we all take for granted."

Aerith gently spun about in place as she spoke. "He's been teaching me a few things about staff fighting… and somehow he knows about… _talking_," she continued after pausing to glance around her. "He calls it something else, but it seems that even ordinary people in his world can learn to do it with enough effort. He can also do things with it that I didn't know were possible, and he's started teaching me some of those things.

"I wonder if you knew about these things," Aerith whispered. "Or if you would have been just as amazed as I was. The trouble with being the last of anything… nobody to learn from, and nobody to teach. But I think I'm getting by. I think…"

Aerith paused, trailing off. She felt… something familiar, from a long way off. "I think I have to get going, Mom…" she said, her tone a little more cheerful. "I'm not sure I'm ready to tell him about you… about _us_… but maybe soon."

She smiled, bent down to pick up her basket, and walked away to the north. In the pale light, for just a moment, the two flowers she had set on the step glowed softly, and then it was gone.

-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-

Ranma looked over the disassembled pieces of hardware. "I guess it's this thing," he said dubiously. "Wouldn't have guessed it could do that." He gently took the mako battery out of the handle, then began considering his options as he looked it over.

Elmyra was peeking over his shoulder every so often. "So, what is it you're doing?" she asked, curious.

Ranma smiled, but kept his gaze focused firmly on the baton's inner workings. "I did a little readin' in the library last week, about mako, and about what it can do," he answered slowly, fiddling with a delicate part. "My world has something similar to this… we call it nuclear energy. But even taking a grain of salt with Shinra's public books on everything it can do... I think there's more to it." He carefully removed another connector, and examined it studiously.

Elmyra looked concerned. "Should you be doing that in here?"

Ranma shrugged. "I won't say it's safe, but I don't think it's going to explode or anythin'. I just… I learned a long time ago to trust my gut." He took a pair of tweezers and tugged firmly on a small protuberance. It remained in place, which Ranma had expected, but which was still annoying to him. "An' my gut has some words about this," he finished ominously, taking a small screwdriver and carefully inserting it between two halves of the outer shell. "Elmyra, could I ask a quick favor?"

"Hmm?" Elmyra stepped forward for a moment. "What is it, dear?"

Ranma was focused on the circuitry in front of him. "Could I ask you for a dish that you wouldn't mind never using again?"

Elmyra hesitated for a moment, before moving quickly to the kitchen and back again, having brought an old earthenware bowl with a slightly cracked glazing. Ranma nodded towards the worktable he was at, and Elmyra set it down cautiously. "Can you tell me about it?"

Ranma blinked for a moment, considering his words carefully. "I know it sounds nuts, but I don't know how else to say this," he said slowly, tilting the battery back and forth, watching the fluid mixture inside slosh gently through the narrow glass panel set in its side. "If I didn't know better, I'd say that there's some kind of... liquefied chi energy inside this thing."

Before either of them could say another word, there was the sound of an earth-shattering blast in the far distance. A moment later, the lights flickered once, and then everything went dark.

-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-

_Five minutes previously…_

Aerith was sitting near the old theater in Sector 8, which had been shut down by the owner only last year. The outside was still in decent shape, but a couple of families were now using it as a halfway house, and most of the doors were boarded shut. Regardless, they had purchased a number of her flowers, and had mostly been polite to her today.

She had been confused when the voice of the Planet mentioned that she should come by here. It was well out of her way, it was further than she normally went on her own, and she didn't actually know anyone in Sector 8. Despite that, she trusted that voice, and even if it was frequently difficult to understand, it had yet to put her in any real danger.

Aerith noticed the exposed mako vent in the alleyway next to the theater. She had mentioned it to the occupants, but they said it wasn't a problem. She hadn't told them about the voice of the Planet or how it was louder when she was near to a source of mako. This close to the reactors, it always sounded like it was screaming. She tried to stay away from them for that reason.

There was a sense of _wrong_ in the air around her. That was all the warning she got before an air-ripping explosion sounded in the distance above her. She saw a shockwave of fire ejected from the middle of the No. 1 reactor, and ducked quickly back into the theater as wreckage and flames rained down from above. The lights flickered once, twice, and were gone.

-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-

Power returned to the Gainsborough household less than a minute afterwards, the city's redundancies rerouting from the closer reactor. Ranma was already outside, trying to find a good view point to get an idea of what the damage was. "Kami, what in the world…" he swore under his breath as he vaulted to the top of the house.

As he reached the upper roof, he was able to peek through the parts of the Sector 6 plate that were still under construction, and get a view of some of the upper plate, as well as the distant horizon, while the sun was out. He noticed a light in the distance that seemed unusual. As his eyes focused across the distance, he realized exactly what it was.

"Elmyra!" he shouted down from the rooftop before leaping back down to the ground. "One of the reactors is on fire!"

Elmyra looked like the bottom fell out of her world. "Oh dear goddess, no," she whispered. "Aerith! Where is she?"

Ranma gritted his teeth. "I'll find her! You stay here in case she gets back before me."

"You want me to _stay here _when a reactor is _on fire_?" Elmyra shouted hysterically.

"Calm down," Ranma said, putting his hands on her shoulders. "It's the north reactor, number 1. That's a long way from here. If you run off into the night, with everyone else already in a panic, you could get hurt or worse, and we might not be able to find you." Ranma tried a smile. "If there's any evacuation order, go with that, but otherwise stay here and keep yourself safe."

Hearing the wisdom in his words, Elmyra nodded. Her face was pale and she was already close to tears, but she ducked back into the house and closed the door behind her. Ranma took off running.

-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-

It took forty five minutes of dashing through the rough-marked roads, but Ranma was certain he was going the right way now. He was near the border of Wall Market and Sector 7, a small park to his back and a sizable neighborhood in the distance. Aerith's beacon of chi was somewhere nearby, but with everyone running around in a panic, it was hard to get a fix on her through all the chaos. Privately, he was suddenly glad that he had told Elmyra to stay put.

"Ranma!" he heard a voice call out. He stopped and glanced around, then spotted Aerith in the distance. She looked to be safe. Ranma smiled and hopped down from the rooftop he had been standing on, landing on a pipe running between two buildings halfway up.

Which promptly gave way as soon as his full weight was upon it, dropping Ranma unceremoniously to the ground below, and releasing a torrent of cold water over his head.

"I hate my life," Ranma said flatly. She stood up, shook the excess water free from her hair, and walked the rest of the way to meet Aerith.

Aerith, for her part, looked genuinely concerned. "Are you all right?" she asked Ranma.

Ranma nodded. "I'll be fine," she said. "We saw the fire. Are _you _all right?"

Aerith nodded slowly. "I think so…" she said. "Scared me half to death though. After the explosion there was this big gust of wind and it nearly knocked me flat."

Ranma stopped short at that. In terrain like this, she realized that Aerith must have been pretty close to the reactor when it went off to feel the shockwave. "If you say so," she said, but didn't press the issue. "We should get back to your house, Elmyra is worried sick. I had to tell her to stay put so she wouldn't get caught up in..." she gestured vaguely around them, "...well, all of this."

Aerith smiled. "You probably don't think that's much, but… thank you for watching out for her," she said.

Ranma grinned. "Hey, she's kinda my mom too while I'm here," she replied. "Of course I'm gonna put my foot down to keep her safe. You too, if I can help it."

Aerith stopped suddenly, still smiling, but her eyes had misted over. "Ranma…" she whispered. Ranma stopped and looked back at her. "You are far better than you think you are."

Ranma smiled, but shrugged. "Let's get back there then."

-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-

The next morning, the television networks had dedicated analysis of the explosion at the No. 1 Reactor. There was discussion about a group of terrorists calling themselves "AVALANCHE" and how they had brutally murdered their way through civilians and troopers alike. Ranma knew a propaganda broadcast when he heard it, but there was enough feeling of truth in there to make it difficult to sort it out.

It seemed that Elmyra and Aerith were used to it too, because after five minutes they had muted the talking head on the news broadcast and were discussing amongst themselves the most likely explanations. On the other hand, the explanations that Aerith and Elmyra came up with included such possibilities as an ancient tribe of space-faring humans, a traveling swordsman with a time machine, and something about a boy with a sword in the shape of a key and his animal companions. Ranma honestly thought it was possible that the media here was weirder than some of the stuff back in Japan.

Ranma had decided to remain as a girl for a little bit, mostly so she wouldn't further impose on the hot water limitations of the house, and partly so that she could take a look around and get a better idea of the damage. Despite her feelings overall, she recognized that her female form held certain advantages, not the least of which was speed and being able to fit into smaller spaces. Usually. As long as her boobs didn't get in the way, at least.

However, by the time she got to Sector 8, everything close to the No. 1 Reactor had been cordoned off for almost a kilometer in every direction. Shinra's troops were everywhere, along with several mecha-looking guards, and she didn't feel it was worth the effort to push past them. After wandering about for a bit, she returned to Aerith's house, not having accomplished much in the early morning.

When she returned, she noticed the battery she had been working on from the previous night, still laying on the workbench she had set up. She focused on it for a moment, trying to recall her disrupted train of thought. After staring at it for a full minute, she couldn't recall why she had been doing anything with it, and decided to leave it for now. "I'll have to put that thing back together later on," she muttered to herself. After a moment, she called out, "Aerith! Time to train!"

"Yes, sensei! I'll be down in a minute!" Aerith called down from above.

Ranma stepped back out to the front yard. The mako battery and the disassembled shock rod lay forgotten on the table.

-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-

It was just past lunch time, and Ranma and Aerith had just left the house to head to the church. "What were you working on there, anyway?" Aerith asked.

"Huh?" Ranma was briefly confused. "Oh, that. Honestly, I can't remember. Some weird idea I had about the mako battery, but with all the mess going on from last night I don't remember what I was thinking about."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Aerith responded, "I didn't mean to cause that much trouble."

"Nah, nah," Ranma waved off the apology. "Wasn't your fault. Lost my train of thought when I heard the explosion. If it was important, I'm sure it'll come back ta me later."

Aerith nodded, and they continued walking in relative silence, Aerith still practicing the last maneuver from their morning training session. Ranma held a Cure materia orb in her pocket, occasionally grasping it and pushing a small amount of her energy into it, getting herself used to the threshold needed to activate it. They were just past the junkyard when there was a dull echoing crack from somewhere above.

"What was that?" Aerith wondered, looking up.

Ranma's reaction was faster, but even she couldn't tell what was going on at this distance. It sounded like a small explosion, not nearly as large as the one that took out the distant reactor the previous night. Then she saw the movement. A steel platform maybe five meters across was sailing down from somewhere far above. There was a crash and the sound of metal collapsing under its own weight as it collided with the ground somewhere in the distance.

"That… can't be... the church…?" Aerith gasped.

A few moments later, there was another colossal burst of fire, the sudden darkness even at midday as the lights below the plate extinguished, and the screams of civilians as they scattered to the wind.

And in the distance, a man with blonde hair was falling from the plate.

* * *

**A/N: I swear to any ten gods you care to name, when I first started writing this, I did not plan for us to join up with the main story on chapter _seven_. I will however claim serendipity, and leave it at that.**

**Ifalna's death was not given a specific date in any official material that I could find. Considering that Sector 8 is nearly the opposite side of the city from where Aerith lives, I decided that it was in early December, which would give Aerith a reason to go out that far in the first place during such a cold time of the year.**

**Ranma's insistence that Elmyra stays put is actually pretty reasonable. The explosion, while significant, is a long way off. People can get pretty stupid if they're panicked, running around and pushing each other to the ground. An evacuation order would presumably have set instructions and a location to move to for anyone involved, and thus if Ranma and Aerith came back and the area was evacuated, they could find out where to go. If Elmyra ran off on her own, she'd end up just putting herself in danger as well as Aerith. That's my logic, anyway.**

**Hope you like it! Comments and feedback welcome, as always.**


	8. Into The Line Of Fire

Chapter Eight

Into The Line Of Fire

[ ν ] - εγλ 0007, December 10

* * *

"Hello, hello?" Aerith cautiously called out into the church, Ranma following close behind. It looked as though something had crashed through the roof, as there was now a sizable number of fallen timbers in the immediate area of the flowers. "Is anyone here?"

Ranma smirked briefly, remembering the old line about what one would do if they asked that question and heard a voice reply 'no'. She was pretty sure she could sense someone, but with the panic outside and everyone running around, it was actually hard to tell. "Sure ya wanna be here right now?" she asked.

Aerith shushed her. "I'd be here if it was _you_ that fell," she responded, "no matter what you'd been doing up there." Ranma nodded in response, suitably chastised and accepting it. The two of them stepped forward and began pulling away the timbers. "Oh my…"

Near the bottom of the heap was a man lying face down in the flower bed. He was clad in a loose black sleeveless tunic and dark pants, and strapped to his back was an enormous, thick sword almost as broad as Ranma. It looked as though the sword had kept the weight of most of the debris from landing directly on his back. Ranma and Aerith glanced at each other, and nodded, before carefully shifting the fallen timbers away from the body.

"Is he alive?" Aerith asked, concerned.

Ranma leaned down carefully and placed two fingers against the man's throat. "Well, he's breathin'," she confirmed. She stepped back, looking up through the brand-new skylight in the church roof. "Beats the hell out of me how he survived a fall like that," she mused after a minute.

The body on the ground let out a groan; whether from pain or relief it was difficult to tell. "Oh, he's moving!" Aerith whispered in a surprised tone. "Are you okay?"

The man gently shifted position and rolled to hands and knees before opening his eyes. "I… think so," he said quietly, shifting position slightly. "I came... crashing down? Where am I?"

"Yes, you're very lucky," Aerith replied. "You're in my church in Sector 5. The roof and the flower bed must have broken your fall some."

The man looked down and focused on the flowers. "Oh, these are yours?" he asked, suddenly aware of himself. He cautiously shuffled to one side, careful to avoid damaging the flowers further. "Sorry."

Ranma looked the man up and down. His face was more or less expressionless, his bare arms showed an abundance of lean muscle, and he carried himself like a professional. Even his footsteps were even and measured. Then she noticed the bracer strapped to his arm, with materia slotted into it. Coupled with the sword that looked as heavy as she knew Ryoga's umbrella to be, and she realized that trying to fight this man might actually end up becoming very dangerous.

Aerith, on the other hand, was simply looking him over as if trying to remember something. "Oh!" she said suddenly, recognition dawning. "We meet again."

The blonde looked briefly startled at that, running one hand through his hair, doing absolutely nothing to tame it in any way. "Oh, right. You were selling flowers," he said calmly.

Aerith smiled gently. "Oh, I'm happy you remembered," she replied. "Thank you for buying one of my flowers. Do you mind waiting for a moment? I want to be sure they're all okay," she said, gesturing to the flower bed.

The man nodded and stepped to the side, as Aerith walked over and kneeled down, scrutinizing the flowers and tugging gently at the roots with her bare hands. Ranma glanced over at the man, who had a suitably puzzled look on his face. "Don't worry about that," she said, noticing the befuddled expression. "She did that when she met me too."

The man nodded and appeared to relax some, or at least to not stand as rigidly. Ranma lay down casually in the frontmost pew, reaching down to pick up a small rock, and tossed it over her head to pass the time while Aerith tended to her garden.

"What's your name?" Ranma asked after a short silence.

The man turned his head to face her, giving her a good look at his blue, faintly glowing eyes. "Cloud," he replied.

"I'm Ranma," she introduced herself, "and that's Aerith," she said, gesturing to the girl almost obliviously engrossed in her work. "You look pretty tough… what do ya do around here?"

"Kind of a jack of all trades, I guess," he responded lightly.

Ranma blinked. "Like a mercenary, sort of thing?"

Cloud nodded. "You could say that," he answered, then turned away to the front of the church, by the entrance. He gave a meaningful glance to Ranma.

"Yeah, I know," Ranma said quietly, still lazily tossing the stone up and catching it in one hand. "Heard 'im come in about thirty seconds ago. S'why I'm asking about you." Aerith finished her work, and stood up, turning to face Ranma and Cloud, and noticing Reno for the first time. "Look, you're a mercenary, I'll make this simple," Ranma continued, gesturing to Aerith with one hand. "I'll pay you fifty gil to keep her safe from Red-boy and his cronies up there for the next sixty minutes. After that, we'll either be safe or we'll be in a lot bigger trouble."

Cloud's gazed bounced between Reno and Aerith for a moment, before returning to Ranma, prone on the pew and still playing catch with a rock. "You don't want protection too?" he asked casually.

In response, Ranma caught the stone in one hand, and _squeezed_. When she let go, a fine powder drifted to the floorboards. "I don't _need_ protection," she explained, "but I can't fight that many alone _and _make sure nobody gets the drop on us. And…" she said, smirking, "I kinda dislocated Red-boy's elbow last time we saw each other, so I doubt he's gonna be in the mood for tea and pleasantries."

Aerith swallowed, but nodded. "Please don't fight here, you'll hurt the flowers!" she pleaded. "There's a back way out, we can use it to get to the roof."

Ranma smiled, and uncrossed her legs, still laying relatively flat on the pew. "All right, Aerith. I'll do what I can, but it kinda depends on him. Wait for the first move," she said quietly. "Once I've got his attention, break for it. I'll catch you up by the wall if I can."

Cloud smiled briefly, and glanced up to the front. The red-haired man was indeed approaching, and had several armed Shinra troopers flanking him. "Yo, don't mind me," Reno called out with a smirk, stepping forward lazily in his disheveled attire. He paused briefly as he got a good look at Cloud. "Oh, it's one-a you."

Cloud stared at the man. "Do I know you?" After a moment, his gaze flickered. "Wait... I _do_ know you," he declared. "You're a Turk."

"Guilty as charged," Reno responded smugly. "Ya don't wanna get in the way. We're just picking up somethin'."

"Is it your pride?" Ranma quipped, coming to her feet and into Reno's view. "I'm actually impressed you're standin' right now after that shot I gave to your knee the other day."

Reno glared, and the smirk on his face vanished. "Glad to see ya, girly," he replied flippantly, though he could not hide the undercurrent of anger in his voice. "Gotta repay ya for that."

Ranma flicked her eyes to the side for a moment. "Gonna invite Rude down here too, or do ya think you can take me on your own?"

Ranma had the pleasure of watching the color drain away from Reno's face. "How did-" he stopped. "Whatever. Yo, Rude!" he yelled out loud. "That girl here, she's askin' about ya!"

Even knowing Rude was present, his entrance was something of a shock. There was a loud shout and suddenly the tall man leaped in from above. He landed with a loud crack as the floorboards beneath him shattered, splintering beneath the force of his landing. Without so much as a grunt of effort, he stood up, straightened his tie, and stepped in the way of the door leading to the back of the church. "Did you know you had the top half of a rocket back there?" Rude asked, completely unperturbed.

Ranma looked at Rude in genuine confusion. "Wait, what? Really? Can I see it?" she inquired.

Rude shook his head. "Not getting past me today, miss."

"Well, so much for plan A," Cloud commented, drawing his sword. "Got any others?"

Ranma grumbled, but conceded the point. In trying to draw out the rest of the Turks, she'd inadvertently cut off their escape. So now the best option was probably honesty. "All right, all right," she said. "You got beef with me, I'm game. But if we throw down in here, the roof is gonna come down on all of us," she said, pointing up to the already damaged rafters. "What's left of it, anyway. I know you got two more out front, I'm guessin' one of them is Tseng, and I'd bet he wants a piece of me too. So I'll make ya a deal, on my honor. All of us step outside, and we resume this uncivilized conversation there."

Rude was stoic and unmoved. Reno paused for a moment and cocked his head, probably listening to Tseng or whoever else was in charge. "All right, girly," Reno finally responded. "My boys here are gonna take a walk with the skinny chick. Then tall, blonde, and quiet over there is gonna step out with Rude. Then you an' me. Try anything…" Reno flicked his wrist, and in his hand was a sheathed baton, "...and yer not gonna live to regret it too long."

Ranma nodded, realizing that this had been a trap more or less from the moment she and Aerith had walked inside. "Do what he says," she said, turning to Cloud. "If we get out of this, you still get paid. Until then, I'm puttin' my foot down to keep her safe."

Aerith blinked at her words, trying to understand the odd phrasing. Cloud looked at Ranma doubtfully, but nodded, holstering his sword behind him. "If we get out of this, remind me to introduce you to a friend of mine," he said quietly. "I think you'd get along."

"I'm sure we would," Ranma replied, smiling despite herself. "Aerith? Go on, we'll be right behind you." Aerith did not look or feel nearly as assured as Ranma, but nodded and walked forwards between the rows of pews, the six troopers closing rank around her. Rude inclined his head to Cloud, and they too strode forward out of the building.

"Reno," Ranma said softly. "You know this isn't gonna end well."

Reno's smirk returned. "Doesn't haveta end _well_," he drawled, gesturing with his empty hand. "Just has to _end_."

Ranma rolled her eyes at that. "Careful what you wish for," she said, stepping forward. She followed Reno out of the church, and was pleased to see that despite her reservations, Cloud and Aerith were currently unharmed, though they were surrounded by armed troops, guns trained. She glanced to one side and was unsurprised to see Tseng, along with someone else, a short girl with platinum blonde hair and a heavy-looking pistol in one hand.

"Ah, our mystery girl," Tseng said theatrically. "Over a week and we haven't found anything out about you yet. But you knew all our names when we first met. I wonder if you understand just how… unaccountable… that is?"

Ranma shrugged. "I could tell ya," she said casually. "But I wouldn't want to deprive you of the opportunity to lock me in a cell, starve and torture me, and beat the information out of me."

Tseng smiled and gave an almost aristocratic bow. "Well, I can't say I look forward to it," he replied. "But I'm sure we could find someone willing to stand in."

"Yeah, keep talking, Tseng," Ranma countered. "Maybe you'll bore me into submission. You knew we were here," she said louder, cutting off Tseng's retort. "Which means you know, for a fact, that we were down here when that explosion went off. So whatever that was, we had nothin' to do with it."

"Yeah," Reno said, dragging out his words, "but we don't care about that. We're here for you and the girl today. Catching blondie over there is just a bonus."

Ranma glanced at Cloud, whose expression remained stoic and blank. For most, that in and of itself might have been a dead giveaway, but it was hard to tell so soon after meeting him. "Fine, you want me, you got me, but I'm putting my foot down about the girl. Let her go."

Reno laughed. Behind him, the message clicked in Aerith's head and she leaned up to whisper quietly to Cloud. Cloud's face solidified, his gaze fixed on Ranma, who had in fact planted both of her feet firmly on the ground. "Ya really think you're in any position to negotiate, girly?" Reno said dismissively, extending his baton. "Lemme show ya what happens to anyone who messes with the Turks!"

Ranma pulled both arms in close to her body and took a deep breath. There was a moment where everything appeared to happen at once. Reno charged forward at Ranma. Cloud, understanding the warning Aerith had passed on, pulled the two of them down to the ground, turning his back to Ranma to cover Aerith. "_Yama-Sen Ken: Kijin Raishuu Dan!_" Ranma shouted suddenly, her voice amplified and bizarrely echoing, throwing out her hands in a broad sweeping motion. There was an incredible sense of pressure as the air moved, parted, and warped around them all. A moment later, there was a series of sounds, as of metal being sheared in half, clothing being torn, and skin being cut. The entire event lasted less than ten seconds.

Each of the troopers' assault weapons had been cut in half, some laying on the ground in ribbons. Two of their helmets sported deep gashes. Their armor was all in tatters. That was as nothing compared to the Turks themselves. Rude was laying on the ground, one hand covering a deep gash on his shoulder, a similar cut over one thigh. Tseng's suit jacket was in scraps on the ground, the pressed shirt below it in only slightly better shape. The pistol he had drawn was currently in three pieces, and there was a shallow cut along the hand that had drawn it.

Reno had clearly gotten the worst of it. He was on the ground with several large slices across his now bare chest, and one nasty looking cut running from cheek to chin. One leg was bleeding badly. Dozens of smaller slash marks lined his arms and shoulders. He curled up in pain, but even that brought no relief, as shifting in any way pushed those wounds against the dirty ground.

The blonde girl standing to Ranma's left had somehow managed to step back just at the start of Ranma's attack. She had the heavy pistol still drawn and trained on Ranma, but she was clearly shaken, her aim unsteady. Of course, at this distance, she could pull a foot to one side and still hit center mass. "What…" she began, trying desperately to rein in the quaver in her voice. "What did you do to them?"

Ranma said nothing, but turned to face the girl. There was a long, tense moment, the two staring at each other, the gun jittering between them. Ranma moved one arm like a snake, and in that moment the girl found her resolve, and pulled the trigger.

_**click**_

No deafening crack, no ejected casing, no scream of agony. The girl looked down at her gun. Ranma's hand was wrapped around the top of the pistol, two fingers gripping the hammer and holding it against the force of the spring, keeping it from slamming home. The girl pulled the trigger again, the hammer not moving even a millimeter closer to the firing position. Ranma frowned, and pinched her fingers together, crushing the metal hammer into a flat plate and twisting it slightly to the side. She then wrenched her hand hard to one side, ripping the gun from her hands.

"I tried to be nice last time," she said, her voice flat, eyes dark, no trace of a smile on her face. "I'm gonna try being nice one more time. I want you to understand my full meaning here of 'nice'. The technique you just saw was underpowered by about eighty percent." She gripped the gun absently in both hands, feeling for the magazine release and ejecting it onto the dirt below. "If I went all out, every person here, including you and possibly my new friend there, would be _bloody chunks_ in the dirt. And that isn't even the most destructive technique I know."

Ranma's hands squeezed together, the sound of metal fatigue and cracking plastics the only punctuation to her words. "If you get them to medical care soon, they'll all survive, and will probably only have a few scars," she continued. She reached out and took the girl's hand, placing the twisted, crushed lump of metal in her hand. It no longer resembled a gun. In fact, it now looked like a small miniature of Ranma. "I gave a warning to Tseng last time we met. I even left him unhurt so he could make sure his men were cared for as fast as possible. I also offered, freely, to answer any question any of you had about me, provided my friends went free and unharmed. He didn't listen. So listening…" she smiled, a smile which held no warmth or comfort in it, "...now falls to you."

Ranma rested one hand on the girl's shoulder. "You wanna talk, please come by, I'm sure you already know where I'm stayin'. I'll be happy to answer any questions you got for me. Send another squad of killers, and I'm going to stop holding back. Come after Aerith again, and on my honor as a martial artist I will march to Shinra's door and I will tear it to the ground with my bare hands." Ranma raised one leg behind her in a deliberately feminine pose, and leaned in close to the blonde Turk. From the outside it might have looked like a kiss behind the cheek. "Don't come after us again," she whispered.

With that, she turned, and gestured to Cloud and Aerith. "I think we've overstayed our welcome," Aerith said quietly.

Cloud stepped over the prone body of Rude, and they began walking. "Remember what I said about you and my friend getting along?" he said.

"Yeah?" Ranma said.

"I take it back," he answered. "You would _terrify _my friend.

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Elena looked after the trio as they walked away, completely unharmed. Could it all have been a trick? Smoke and mirrors? A mole inside Shinra, feeding info to… some random group of civilians? Or was the redheaded girl for real? Had she just taken out a half dozen troopers and the entirety of the Turks by… by what? Pushing the air with her arms so hard it created blades? How the hell would this fit into her mission report?

The least-injured of the troopers stood at attention, or at least mostly so. "Sir, what should we do?" he asked.

Elena took one look at the backs of the trio in the distance, and then looked down, first at her injured comrades, and then at the statuette in her hands, which less than five minutes previously had been a Shin-Ra Model 10SA Quicksilver pistol. "Let's get them to help," she said, gesturing to the rest of the Turks. "None of you are to speak of this, not to Heidegger or anyone else without my direct order!"

"Yes sir!" the trooper responded, and called for medevac on his somehow undamaged radio.

Elena took a step closer to Tseng, gripping his wounded hand firmly, keeping pressure on the wound. "We need to report this to Rufus," she said quietly. "Immediately."

* * *

**A/N: And now we join the main story, already in progress! ****Obviously, with some changes. Events from here will follow similar frameworks to the original FF7 plotlines, but do not expect everything to be as linear, or as instantly recognizable.**

** Reno and a handful of troopers showed up in the original game. However, all of the Turks know at this point that Aerith has some protection, and that protection is not a pushover, so they'd have come loaded for bear and fully prepared to fight. The two reasons this battle went south for them as quickly as it did is that they allowed themselves to get bunched up, believing their superior firepower and numbers would be sufficient to stem the tide, and once again they underestimated the capacity for Ranma to cause problems. At this point they will have revised the threat assessment of the girl sharply upward, and are exceptionally unlikely to make any further errors of judgment in that regard.**

**Yama-Sen Ken: Kijin Raishuu Dan (Thousand Mountains Style: Demon-God's Multiple Strikes) is a high level technique from one of the two arts developed by Genma Saotome. Simulating the action of flinging shutters open with your hands, the user's movement are so swift that the air itself is forced apart, creating a vacuum of sharp blades of air capable of cutting through almost anything. In this instance, Ranma has deliberately cut the flow of chi to the technique to prevent lethal force from being inflicted.**

**Elena's model pistol is a reference to the gun Vincent Valentine begins the game with, a Quicksilver pistol. Seeing as how he also was a Turk, it seemed reasonable that this might be a standard issue weapon for the Turks.**

**I didn't know until I started writing this story that the pillar-shaped object in the back of the church was the top half of one of the rockets prior to Shinra No.26, i.e., the vessel that would have carried Cid Highwind into space so many years ago. Just one of the wacky little details you find out when you're researching things for a fanfic, I guess. :D**

**Hope you like it! Feedback and comments welcome! Next chapter oughta go up Thanksgiving morning; next one after that should be December 8. Enjoy your holidays and have lots of roast chocoducken. :P**


	9. Over The Hills And Far Away

**Happy Thanksgiving! How have I been posting this for two months? How have I been writing for two months? I'm amazed that all of you have kept following and that you've *enjoyed* it. I'd have been happy just writing this for myself, and suddenly I've got fans. Yeah, okay, I'll try to deal with that concept. :D**

**Comments!  
Death Of Snipers: Aha, a fellow binge-reader. You dropped a couple of comments, but I'll address the most recent one... remember that, without materia, Cloud can create a beam of energy and hit people with it from a distance, then make that same energy diffuse into several smaller ones that hit everyone else. Some of Ranma's abilities are on the same level of materia, but some of the party's limit breaks are too. In short... well... you'll see. I have _plans_. (nefarious laughter)  
****Gennavain: Putting aside the 'master of fanfiction' for a moment... thank you. Seriously, though, if I write farther than those who came before, it's because I stand on the first drafts of giants. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it. :D  
Kariston Draconis: Normally, Elena doesn't show up until after the party leaves Midgar, yes. This is where the changes start. Elena got recruited early because they needed extra bodies to deal with both AVALANCHE and Ranma Saotome. Obviously that didn't quite go as planned, but... well, you'll see.  
LookItsADoggy: Spring of Drowned Mutant Mouse sounds more like a crossover with Kingdom Hearts than this, but I am nonetheless amused by the idea.**

**As previously mentioned, next chapter posting will be December 8. Gonna need some wind-down time after all the turkey and stuffing (and family). Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter Nine

Over The Hills And Far Away

[ ν ] - εγλ 0007, December 10

* * *

"Almost forgot," Ranma said, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a 100-gil coin. "This is yours, you more than earned it."

She tossed the large coin to Cloud, who caught it and looked it over. "This is more than we agreed on," he replied, confused.

"And there was a lot more danger to Aerith than I'd realized," Ranma explained. "You'd have had every right to book it when that many guys showed up, and you stuck around. If ya need another reason, call it a bonus for a job well done."

Aerith looked up at Cloud, who was not substantially taller than her, but still carried himself with a stature that seemed to exude confidence. "You were in SOLDIER, weren't you?"

Cloud stopped for a moment, and turned to face Aerith. "Yeah," he answered. "Past tense, though."

"Did you…" Aerith began, but hesitated. "Do you know about a SOLDIER named Zack?"

"Zack?" Cloud thought for a moment. "Name doesn't sound familiar, but there are a lot of SOLDIERs."

Aerith let out a small, dejected 'oh', and they kept walking. Ranma watched the exchange closely, but said nothing. "So, if you ain't in SOLDIER, what's your story now?" Ranma interjected. "You don't look the type to stay sidelined for long."

Cloud looked away for a moment. "How do I put this…" he said quietly, considering his words. "I'm working for someone. Won't say who right now. But… I can guess from that little scuffle back there-" Aerith snorted her amusement at that, "-that you're probably no friend of Shinra."

"Can say that again," Ranma muttered.

Cloud gave a small smile. "If you want to know what I'm up to, I could introduce you. We could always use more hands."

Ranma and Aerith shared a look. "Huh…" Ranma said thoughtfully. "Give us a minute, would ya?"

Cloud nodded, and Aerith and Ranma stepped off to one side. Once they were out of sight and earshot, Aerith turned to face Ranma. "Well?" Aerith demanded.

Ranma looked taken aback, and glanced back at Cloud. "Don't tell me you're seriously considering this," she said quietly.

Aerith glared at her sharply. "Do you know how long I've been on the run from Shinra?" she asked angrily, eyes welling up with tears. "How much they've taken from me?"

Ranma met her gaze without flinching. "Of course I don't," she replied calmly. "You haven't ever actually told me." Aerith recoiled as if struck. She stared at Ranma accusingly as her tears rolled down her cheeks. "Hey, don't mistake that for me not gettin' it," Ranma continued. "They just crossed a big line for me too, and that's not even countin' the fact that I said I would keep you safe and I just nearly failed at it. But I'm here, alone, on my own. I don't have anythin' or anyone here they can use against me. You've got someone here, and they could take it out on her, so you need to think about what it might mean for you to start something with them if you can't finish it."

Aerith stood there for a long moment, silent as the implications of her words sunk in. "You're… not wrong…" she said quietly, turning away, wiping her tears away. "Mom… can't fight, not like you or I can. She'd be vulnerable. But… you're also wrong about one thing." Aerith turned and smiled again, her cheerful expression marred slightly by her reddened eyes. "You do have people here that you care about. And… they care about you too."

Ranma blinked at that. "Okay, fine, don't get all sappy on me," she said, grinning. "So, what are we gonna tell Elmyra? And how do we keep her safe?"

"Umm…" Aerith trailed off, glancing to one side. "Honestly, I was more focused on what you'd tell this new group of people, about your curse."

Ranma froze up for a moment. Having blissfully forgotten that it had grown into a non-issue for Aerith and Elmyra, she had neglected to consider the possible reactions of newcomers. After a moment of consideration, she shrugged. "Yeah, just gonna tell them," she said. "If it's a breaking point for them, then they ain't worth it."

Aerith smiled at that. "I should probably tell mom about what's going on then," she said. "She can't keep herself safe if she doesn't know what's going on." Ranma nodded her approval, and Aerith walked back over to Cloud. "I need to check in with a family member, she needs to know that we're all right. Would you be okay with keeping me safe for a little longer?" she asked him.

Cloud looked surprised, not just at Aerith's approach but at her phrasing. "You've got a girl like her around," he said, gesturing to Ranma, "and you want _me _to keep you safe?" Aerith nodded, giving a pretty flutter of her eyes. Cloud shrugged. "Fine, but we'll need to hurry, I need to let my team know I'm safe, too."

-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-

"Absolutely _not_!" Elmyra was actually less visibly upset than Ranma had anticipated. That being said, she was currently brandishing a kitchen knife in Cloud's general direction. Cloud, for his part, was at least pretending that it was actually threatening.

Ranma stepped in, arms raised placatingly. "Elmyra, please try to understand what's going on here-"

"There's a SOLDIER here in my living room trying to take away my girl!" Elmyra shouted. "What else is there to understand?"

Ranma thought back to the earlier conversation between Cloud and Aerith. "Okay, I give up," Ranma said, gesturing vaguely with her hands, "how did either of you know he was a SOLDIER without him sayin' so?"

Cloud actually looked stunned at the question, but it was Aerith who spoke up. "It's his eyes," she answered. "SOLDIER eyes glow like that."

"He's not taking Aerith anywhere," Elmyra said firmly, glaring daggers at Cloud.

Ranma sighed, trying to think about how to work through this. After a long, tense moment, Aerith stood up and leaned forward, her hands on the table. "Cloud, could I ask you to stand outside?" she asked, her gentle gaze held firmly on Elmyra. "I think we need a little space for a moment."

Cloud nodded, and quietly shuffled past Ranma, closing the door behind him. They waited until his footsteps retreated past the point of hearing. Elmyra set the knife down behind her. "Aerith, I am not okay with this," she said calmly. "I'm just barely okay with you going to that old church and back and _don't interrupt me_, young lady, I'm far from finished and I need to say this," Elmyra waved off Aerith's attempts to explain.

"I promised Ifalna I would keep you safe, and I have done everything in my power to keep that promise," Elmyra continued, her eyes glistening. "Goddess knows it hasn't been easy, certainly not after Shinra found us. But there's only so much I can do, and I can't… I can't protect you from the whole world," her voice finally cracked, and she reached out for Aerith, sobbing.

Aerith's smile wavered, and she stepped forward immediately to embrace Elmyra. "I know, mom…" she said softly. "I know… I want the same for you. But they're coming for _me_. They always have been, and they'll keep coming. Between Ranma and… whoever Cloud is working for, I might finally have a chance to do that for you. You've done so much for me, mom." She smiled and kissed Elmyra on the forehead. "Please, let me do this for you?"

Elmyra's inarticulate wailing subsided slowly, and she nodded, holding her daughter close. "You… had better come back to me, my girl," she replied quietly. She gave a final squeeze to Aerith, and then let go.

Ranma sat on the stairs and looked between the two women, feeling distinctly uncomfortable at having been witness to such a personal exchange. Elmyra looked up at Ranma. "You glorious idiot, get over here," Elmyra said simply. Ranma smirked at that and stepped down into the kitchen, where Elmyra gave her a warm hug. "I know you're doing this for your own reasons, too," she said quietly, "and I know you also want to get back home to your world. But… will you give an old woman some peace of mind, and watch after my daughter while you're still here?"

Ranma took a deep breath, and nodded, returning the hug. "As long as I remain in this world," Ranma intoned, "and as long as I draw breath, I will do everything I can to make sure she returns to you unharmed."

Elmyra looked down at the shorter girl. "And that applies to you too," she said firmly. "You may not be my child, but as far as I'm concerned you are definitely a part of this family now. And even if you don't think that's the case, I know you've got people waiting for you in your world," she said, wiping her eyes, "which means you have to keep yourself safe too. I couldn't forgive myself if your parents or your fiance showed up here and I had to explain to them that something had happened to you."

Ranma nearly lost her composure at that thought, and smiled weakly, "Jeez, Elmyra," she tried to wave her off with her usual confidence, but couldn't quite keep her voice from cracking. "Enough with the mushy stuff, you'll wreck my reputation."

Elmyra laughed at that, and held Ranma tighter. "I mean it, though," she insisted. "You _and_ Aerith better both come home safe."

"I promise, Elmyra," Ranma said finally. "If nothing else, I need to get your stew recipe. I'll never become a truly great martial artist without it."

Elmyra and Aerith both gave a hearty laugh, and Aerith joined in the hug. "I'll make sure Ranma doesn't push herself too hard," she offered.

After another long moment of shared embrace, they released each other. "I'm still not exactly happy about you walking away side by side with a SOLDIER," Elmyra admitted. "But if you two keep each other safe, that'll be good enough for me to sleep at night, at least."

"He's not with SOLDIER anymore, Elmyra," Ranma said.

Elmyra blinked. "He's not?" She had the good grace to look embarrassed. "Oh for crying out loud, I've made a mess of this, haven't I?"

Ranma smiled and gave an unprompted hug to Elmyra. "It means you care about her, that's all. We'll stay safe, and if it comes down to it I'll just punch him or something."

Even Aerith smirked at that. "We need to get moving, mom," she said. "I'll check in when I know what's going on, but please don't be worried if you don't hear anything for a day or two."

Ranma smiled and opened the door, and they both stepped outside. Elmyra followed them to the threshold and watched them go, still holding back a few tears.

-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-

"Aerith?" Ranma asked quietly, as they approached Cloud.

"Hmm?" Aerith responded.

"Who's Ifalna?" Aerith stopped short suddenly, her expression solidified. Ranma turned to look at her. "...Aerith?"

Aerith looked at Ranma and smiled softly, but there was something else behind that smile. "Ask me again tomorrow?" she said kindly. "I don't think this is the best time."

Ranma nodded, and they continued on.

* * *

**A/N: Chapter title here is referring to an old and popular song that told the story of young men called to war while leaving the women behind. Elmyra's lost a husband to a war already, and knew a bit about Aerith's crush on Zack in her youth. Her reaction here to Cloud is more... direct than in the original game, in which she quietly told Cloud to leave on his own in the middle of the night. Obviously that didn't work then either.**

**Since nobody's staying the night at the Gainsborough household, this is also going to result in a minor change to the canon events in the upcoming chapter. If you recall, after spending the evening in Aerith's house, Cloud left, encountered Aerith waiting for him, and then saw Tifa on a wagon headed to Wall Market. We're arriving back to Sector 7 a little ahead of time as a result of this, so... well, you'll see the changes that will occur.**

**This chapter was shorter, but I feel that the events in it were necessary to stand on their own, rather than merged with the next one.**

**Hope you like it! Comments and feedback welcome!**


	10. Making Friends, Making Problems

**Happy holidays! Boy has it been a week. I did not get a lot of writing done this week, since my office has been rolling out new internal-facing software, a brilliant strategy right before a giant holiday where most of the company is out of the office... but I digress. I managed to get a decent amount of writing done during the Thanksgiving weekend, despite also baking and doing a lot of post-holiday cleanup. So, as a result, here is a new chapter!**

**Comments!  
MooseBreath: I... honestly can't tell if you're being serious or not, since your comment managed to cover three whole city blocks before getting to the point. Under the assumption that you are, I might point out that 'understanding the basics of a story in which a fanfic is set' is kind of one of the central premises of fanfiction in general. However, if you really need that much help finding a source of the entire story of FF7, I invite you to check out World of Longplays on Youtube. They literally just play through whole games, showing the story as is, and I know they've done one for FF7.  
Treant Balewood: Glad to impress, and I hope that continues!**

**Anyway, story stuff!**

* * *

Chapter Ten

Making Friends, Making Problems

[ ν ] - εγλ 0007, December 10

* * *

The hour was getting late, but after a long walk and a fight with an actual house that had grown legs and arms, the trio arrived at Sector 7. Cloud took a few steps in front of the two girls. "Let me go in first, they know me," he said, and walked up the stairs to the bar entrance. "Tifa? Barret?" he called out.

"I've seen this place before," Ranma whispered to Aerith.

"So have I," Aerith replied. "I was raised here, remember?"

Ranma gave an embarrassed grin, and looked up to see an enormous man who appeared to be mostly built out of muscles and definitely, partly made of a gatling gun surgically attached to his arm. Said gun-arm was currently pointed directly at Cloud's face. Cloud did not so much as twitch.

"You gotta lotta nerve," the burly man spoke in a deep voice, "showin' up here after that swan dive you pulled. Guess you jus' as tough as she made you out ta be." The man smirked at that.

Cloud shrugged. "What can I say?" he said calmly. "The first ten meters didn't kill me. The next twenty meters didn't kill me. The fifty meters after that kinda hurt a bit though."

"You…" the man started, but was interrupted when he was shoved to one side by a girl with long black hair.

"Cloud!" the new girl bounced out of the bar, throwing her arms around him. "I knew you'd make it."

"Yeah, yeah, knock it off," the larger man grumbled, finally lowering his weapon. "Give him too much credit an' his dumbass spiky head'll swell up in front of us." Despite his tone, he was grinning as he said it.

"So what was with the warm welcome there, Barret?" Cloud asked with a shrug. "Did you think I was dead? That I'd come back from the grave to haunt you all? Were you going to fill my _ghost_ with bullets?"

Barret didn't answer, instead glancing over Cloud's shoulder. "Friends a' yours?" he asked.

"Kinda," Cloud replied, carefully disentangling himself from the girl. "We helped each other out of a tough spot before coming over here. The little one just took out a bunch of Shinra clowns single-handedly a couple hours ago. Taller one, if I'm understanding the relationship, is the little one's pupil." Cloud shrugged. "Thought you might want to check them out, see if they can do some work around here."

Barret's gaze was hidden behind a pair of dark shades, but Ranma could tell when that appraising look fell over her. He turned and looked into the darkness inside the bar, and then turned to the girl, exchanging meaningful facial expressions. After a long moment, Barret shrugged, and gestured with his good arm. "Mebbe you oughta come in, take a look," he said quietly to Cloud, though his bassy grumble still carried.

Cloud glanced at the girl, who smiled at him, but said nothing. He nodded to Barret and followed him inside the bar. The girl took a few light bouncing steps down the stairway and stopped in front of Ranma and Aerith. "Hi!" she said cheerfully. "I'm Tifa, I run 7th Heaven. Cloud mentioned you might be willing to help out?"

Ranma looked Tifa over. The outfit she sported was… disarmingly revealing, though not as much as Shampoo's usual attire. A leather miniskirt held up by suspenders, over a midriff-baring tanktop and a charming smile. Her long raven-dark hair was bound near her waist by a simple red leather ribbon, and a familiar looking yellow flower adorned her hair at the moment. A pair of padded, metal-studded gloves, matching boots, and a small bracer containing a few materia completed the look. Despite the fact that she looked like a pushover, Ranma could feel some incredible potential radiating from her. "Ranma Saotome," she introduced herself, smiling gently and offering a hand in greeting.

Tifa took the hand with a warm smile and shook it firmly before turning to Aerith. "Aerith Gainsborough," she spoke softly, curling one arm up against her chest and bowing her head.

"So, can either of you tend bar?" Tifa asked innocently.

Ranma snorted at that. "I don't think you're looking for an extra hand mixin' up drinks, miss," she replied with a chuckle.

"Why would you think that?" Tifa countered, the smile never leaving her face. "This is a bar, after all. What else would we do?"

Ranma was considering how best to tackle this discussion, but Aerith stepped forward. "We want to fight Shinra," she said, voice still quiet but determined. "And we think you already do. Cloud fell from the upper plate, into my flowerbed, seconds after the explosion from the Sector 5 reactor. Not long after, the Turks tried to abduct me, and said that Cloud was 'just a bonus.' We were able to fight them off, and Cloud took considerable risk to protect me from Shinra's troopers, at Ranma's request."

"Best hundred gil I ever spent," Ranma said, stretching her hands lazily overhead.

Tifa blinked at the detailed explanation. "There's more," Aerith said, voice quivering slightly, as if she was afraid to continue, but pushed on regardless. "I've lived here for fifteen years. I was in Sector 8 last night, I sell flowers there sometimes. Cloud was there as well. He bought a flower from me, and I think you're wearing it. If I had to guess, he's a member of AVALANCHE. I'm pretty sure Barret is too, and that means you're just as likely." Aerith paused to take a deep breath. "I've been evading the Turks more or less since I came here, and I know the train routes because of that. There's only a handful of places in Midgar that you can get to both sides of the upper plate without switching rail lines, and this is one of them. I only put it together this fast because I saw Cloud in both places, but it's not going to take Shinra long to narrow down the options either. They're going to come for you."

Tifa's smile was still there, but a lot of the previous cheerfulness had drained away. "That's… quite a head of steam on that train of thought," she said casually, dropping the overly friendly demeanor. "Though that's a lot of info to drop on just a hunch. If you're wrong, if I have nothing against Shinra, I could walk over to the guards by the pillar and turn you two in."

Ranma smirked. "Respectfully, Miss Bartender, as long as we're talkin' pure guesswork here, I think I could make ya regret that choice before you took three steps in their direction," she offered. "But that's not what any of us wants, I'm guessin'."

Tifa returned the smirk, but didn't rise to it. "Okay, say we are this… AVALANCHE, group of people. Say we talk it over, and we think you're too big a liability. What then?"

Aerith and Ranma turned to each other, and nodded. "Then we walk away, and we find our own way to fight," Aerith replied.

"Probably keep your address though," Ranma added, "in case you change your mind. Or if we need a drink, either one."

Tifa grinned, despite herself. Before she could respond, there was a squeak of a hinge on the saloon door. "Tifa," Barret called out.

Tifa turned, and noticed something in the man's stance. "Would you girls give us a minute?" Ranma and Aerith smiled, nodding their assent, and Tifa jogged back up the steps to consult with Barret. The conversation was quiet but visibly heated, and included a lot of energetic gesturing.

"Wish I knew what they're talking about," Aerith said.

Ranma shook her head. "You wouldn't like it," she replied.

Aerith was confused. "Why do you say that?"

"Cuz _I_ don't like it."

"Wait, you can hear them from here?"

Ranma took a breath. "No, but I can read lips a bit," she answered, as Tifa turned to enter the bar and Barret turned to take her place, moving cautiously towards the two girls. "And I suspect we're about to find out just how on the nose your deduction was."

Aerith nodded. "Do you think I was right?" she asked.

"I'll put it this way," Ranma began. "If I'm reading their reactions right, you probably could have kept going and guessed each of their shoe sizes and what grades they got in middle school. How did you even do alla that?"

Aerith smiled. "I told you, I grew up here," she replied. "I know the city well."

Barret stopped about a meter away from the duo. Even at that distance, his height and physical presence were more than intimidating. Built like a linebacker and taller than either of them by a long way, Ranma considered that she could probably throw down with the man if it came to it, but even she would have trouble closing the distance with what looked like a rotary cannon built into his arm. "You think we're… AVALANCHE, is that it?" he asked in an even tone, considering his words carefully.

"Yes," Aerith said simply.

Barret inclined his head. "And, thinkin' that, you think they're usin' the trains to get around, and that Shinra is gonna put two and two together about the rail system, and send someone here." Aerith nodded in silent response. Barret shifted his weight slightly, and looked between the two girls. "You two seem nice enough… What's Shinra got against ya?"

"You mean today, or in general?" Ranma shot out.

Barret grinned at the reaction, despite himself. "Okay, I'll bite. In general."

Ranma smiled, or at least bared her teeth. "Aerith seems to have issues with them from… well, longer than I've been alive. A lot of it is personal to her, so I don't even know the whole story. Short version is, they've got a burr up their bums for taking her away and doin' some kinda science project with her. She said no, and… well… you know how Shinra reacts to 'no,'" she explained, shrugging.

Barret nodded, something in his stony face shifting at that last statement. "Yeah, I do," he responded in a gravelly tone. "What's your story then?"

"About two weeks ago, I blindsided a Turk and knocked him out, then dislocated the elbow of a second one, and might have humiliated a third by telling him to cut his losses and get his men to a hospital," Ranma explained, smiling broadly. "Three hours ago, I gave those same three guys some… more serious injuries, alongside a squad of troopers, and I may have spooked the fourth Turk with them by crushing her handgun in my bare hands."

Barret stared at the redhead, his mind working overtime to process the seemingly casual statement of having wrecked one of Shinra's more talented groups of operatives on what appeared to be multiple occasions. He was torn between a delicious sense of schadenfreude and a genuine concern as to what the newcomers would bring down on him and his crew, but shrugged. "Maybe you two oughta come inside," he said carefully.

Aerith smiled and stepped forward past Barret, moving to the bar entrance. Ranma followed close behind.

-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-

The interior of 7th Heaven was, more or less, what Ranma had expected it to be. Dingy lights, wooden floors, heavy tables and barstools. A pinball table sat against one wall, its legs bolted to a sheet of metal. Further back, an ordinary jukebox sat playing tunes. A few neon signs lit up the bar itself, and a plethora of bottles lined the back of the bar.

The current patrons, on the other hand, were not quite as standard issue. A larger man in a bright yellow shirt sat in one corner, fussing over a handheld electronic game. A man and a woman, dressed closely enough to each other that they could be either siblings or lovers, occupied the table nearest the bar. Tifa had already stepped behind the bar and was currently wiping a mug clean with a bar cloth. Another girl, who could not have been more than five, was assisting behind the counter. Cloud was sitting in the bar seat closest to the wall, gazing at a drink on the bar in front of him, his enormous sword leaning against the wall next to him. Barret came in from outside and more or less eclipsed the light coming in from outside.

As Barret entered, Ranma became aware of two things. The first was that, aside from the jukebox and the occasional attract sounds coming from the pinball table, all the noise inside had completely stopped. The other was that, excepting Cloud, all eyes were focused on the two of them. There was a long moment where the tension stretched out, and Aerith noticed it as well.

Barret waved his arms overhead behind them. "Okay, knock it off, y'all," he said, his voice easily carrying over the ambient sounds. "These two are just guests of the bar, for now, anyways." As if a switch flipped, everyone went back to what they were doing.

Ranma took a seat at the bar, facing out at the assembled individuals. Aerith sat down next to her and asked for a drink. Tifa smiled and busied herself behind the counter. Barret stepped forward, removing his shades and pulling forward a chair. "So, you two wanna join up with those terrorists runnin' around blowing shit up, yeah?" he asked in a gruff but quiet tone, taking a seat with his gun-arm resting across his lap. Aerith turned around in the barstool, and nodded to Barret. Ranma gave a simple affirmative grunt. "There's a bit of a dilemma, an' I gotta deal with it. Don't know either of ya, so I don't trust ya. Lil' spiky head over there seems to think yer on the level, but I wouldn't put it past Shinra to stage somethin' like that. Means I can't take what he says without a grain of salt. Leaves me back at not trustin' ya. Meanwhile," he said, pointing to Aerith with his good hand, "you rattle off a buncha nonsense like one o' dem conspiracy nuts that run around with foil on their head to keep the space men from readin' their minds or whatever. An' the worst of that is, everythin' you said sounds right, if you look at it from the right angle."

Barret reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose. "What really puts me inna bind right now is that I've told you two alla this now. Yer smart enough to have pieced together this much without ever meeting us. That means, by now, you've guessed that you're right, we're AVALANCHE. But… I still don't trust ya. I don't trust ya to keep this a secret if ya walk outta here and do your own thing. So I can't let ya just go on your merry way. Which means, either I have to let you two join up right here and now…" Barret hefted his gun-arm meaningfully, glancing between the girls. "...or I can't let either o' ya walk out of here, ever again."

Aerith's eyes were somewhat worryingly focused on the gun-arm resting in Barret's lap, and the drink Tifa had mixed up for her sat forgotten on the bar behind her. Ranma met Barret's gaze and saw the truth in his eyes, that given no other option, he would kill and not hesitate for a second on it, if it meant protecting the people he was in charge of. Then she took a moment and replayed the conversation in her head, examining the wording of what he had laid down in front of them. "Are you even _offering _for us to join?" she asked.

Barret shook his head. "Need a reason to trust ya before I can do that."

Ranma glared at him. "You're asking _us_, at _gunpoint_, on _threat of death_, to give _you_ with a reason the two of us can be trusted," she ran the sequence back to Barret.

"Gotta take care o' mine first," Barret replied, giving a shrug.

Ranma nodded her understanding, disappointed at how much sense it made. "All right, then. Aerith already knows this little magic trick of mine, so… Tifa?" she asked, turning to the bar.

"Hm?" Tifa looked up from what she was doing. "Need a drink?"

"I need two cups," Ranma corrected. "One with hot water, one with cold water." Tifa looked a little surprised at that, but started cleaning out a pair of mugs. "And if you really wanna know that this isn't anything sneaky I'm doing, gonna ask one of you to tie my arms back."

Barret looked puzzled, but nodded to the man in green. He got up from the distant table and pulled a length of rope from somewhere on his person. Ranma shrugged off her coat, setting it on the end of the bar, then turned her back to the man and reached her hands behind her. She felt the rough rope against her wrists as the man wove the fabric into a simple but effective set of impromptu manacles extending all the way to her elbows, keeping her arms rigidly straight within the rope weave. "Huh," she said out loud, testing the restraints gently, "didn't think anyone here would know that knot pattern. Anyway." She stepped down off of the barstool, carefully testing her balance, and nodded to Aerith. "Quick show of hands, who thinks I look girly?"

The vote, unsurprisingly, was unanimous. Even Aerith raised one shaky hand, still nervously watching the rotary cannon attached to Barret. Ranma smirked. "Barret, please do me a favor, and aim at the floor for a moment? I don't want you to fire at me out of shock. Tifa," she asked, "if you would be kind enough to pour that glass of warm water over my head?"

Barret and Tifa exchanged glances, but said nothing. Barret lowered his arm, the gun barrels pointing to the floorboards. Tifa slid effortlessly over top the bar, and lifted the slightly steaming mug of water in one hand. "Whatever you're planning, girl," Tifa said quietly, "it better be good."

"I'll let you decide, Miss Bartender," Ranma said simply, and closed her eyes. Tifa shrugged, and held the mug up high, tipping the water over her head. After about three seconds, she gasped, and the mug dropped to the ground, bouncing away on the floorboards. Ranma opened his eyes. "Hello again," he said calmly.

The room was once again silent but for the jukebox. Every single eye in the room was entirely focused on him. From behind the bar, a little girl's voice sounded, "Hey, mister, where'd your boobs go?"

* * *

**A/N: I wasn't sure how to write Barret in this scene at first. I did my best to find a balancing act between a man suspicious of the good timing of the arrival of new people offering to help, versus a genuine desire to improve AVALANCHE's odds of survival. When I first wrote this scene, I thought I'd tipped too far in one direction or the other until I saw the completed product. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.**

**Tifa was a lot easier to write. The good cop to Barret's bad cop, but also having a long and practised hand at her 'cover' of being a bartender, and therefore used to being cheerful to patrons right up until they'd had too much to drink and needed to be shown the door.**

**I knew I wanted to end the chapter on a bit of a punchline. The tough job was deciding who to give that line to. Marlene gets so little screen time in the game, and I've been around four-year-olds, that is exactly the kind of direct question they'd ask.**

**Aerith having the sudden, long-winded, highly detailed explanation of events sounds way out of character right now, even to me. I promise, once again, I have my reasons for this bizarre behavior, but you will have to be patient with me, the payoff for this is going to be a long time coming. I'm playing a long game here, there's a lot of world-building, and I've actually got a pretty sizable list of notes I used to get this far and into the foreseeable future.**

**Hope you like it! Comments and feedback welcome!**


	11. The Writing on the Wall

**My word, a dozen comments, and y'all are still reading this? On purpose? Is it my birthday or something? (hint: no, it's not my birthday) This week was somewhat less hectic on the RL side... as a result, more writing got done. I don't know how many of you work helpdesk, but sometimes you want to punch Microsoft in the face. Anyway...**

**guisniperman: I had considered having Ranma take on Barret directly in an earlier draft of this chapter, but I decided against it for a couple reasons, the biggest being that AVALANCHE doesn't operate on the Defeat Means Friendship trope the way shonen anime does. Also, Barret's gun-arm was apparently a custom build by a woman named Shalua Rui (who appears on other FF7 Compilation material), so even though you can buy more of them from the corner store for some reason, which doesn't make a lot of sense, him having this one get wrecked would be a major inconvenience.  
Vilkath: I thought this at first as well. But, ****Tifa found Cloud at the train station in October, according to the official timeline. Tifa took him back to 7th Heaven to help him recover and also to keep an eye on him, so he and the other members AVALANCHE had been hanging out together and possibly planning the attack for a bit over a month at the least.  
Neverwhere Chaos Mode: Short answer is that there are not any _major_ changes planned for Cloud's back story, but there are some adjustments. I have a long answer for this, and it will come in a few chapters. Trust me, it's a good one.**

**A quick note about the continuing posts for the upcoming Christmas holiday season: Posts should continue as normal and on my preferred Sunday morning schedule, provided I can finish editing subsequent chapters to my satisfaction. For anyone who might express concern about my pace at this point, believe me, I appreciate the concern, and if I feel I'm hitting a stress point I may back it off a bit. But my rough draft file at this point is about twenty chapters ahead of what I've posted so far, and that is writing _slowly_, for me. So, trust me, I'm in this for the long haul. Anyway, enjoy the new chapter!**

**EDIT: 12/23/2019 changed the events surrounding the "Slappening."**

* * *

Chapter Eleven

The Writing On The Wall

[ ν ] - εγλ 0007, December 10

* * *

Ranma looked at the slack jaws and disbelieving stares. "I don't know why I keep doin' this," he said quietly. He turned to face Tifa, and smiled awkwardly. Cloud had one hand on his sword, but hadn't moved otherwise. "Hello, my name is Ranma Saotome, I am a boy, and I am cursed. Any contact with cold water turns me into a girl. Warm water turns me back into a boy. I'm sure you have a lot of questions, and please don't shoot me when I break the rope here in a second."

Barret had the awareness to respond to the request with an articulate and eloquent "Wait, wha-" before Ranma took a deep breath, flexed his arms in an unusual way, and snapped the knotted rope wrapped around his arms. Aerith giggled briefly, before Barret raised his gun-arm and pointed it straight at Ranma. "Explain," he said, his actions draining all humor from the room. He braced the stock of the weapon against his good arm and growled, "_Now._"

Ranma raised both hands in surrender and cautiously sat back down. "Before I begin, I wanna say something very important," he prefaced, looking Barret square in the eyes. "On my honor as a martial artist, I vow that the story I'm about to tell you is the truth. Whether you believe it or not, that's your business." He took a breath, and continued, "But I've also given my word to another that I would keep Aerith safe. Now, I'd'a done that anyway, but my word and my honor are very, _very _important to me. And as much as I wanna be friends… if you threaten the girl again, you and I are going to have a _serious_ problem. Do we have an agreement on that?"

Barret's gaze did not falter. The rest of the room was more or less immobile. The moment crystallized and turned, and several heartbeats passed. "Girl's off limits," Barret replied, lowering his weapon and extending his good hand. "Unless you make trouble first."

Ranma considered that for a long moment, and realized he probably wasn't going to get a better offer. "Trouble is kind of what I'm known for," he said ruefully. "But I hear ya, and I agree to those terms." He extended his hand in turn, and they shook on it.

Barret took a step back, and held the gun-arm low, pointed well away from Aerith. "All right, let's hear yer story, weirdo," he grumbled out.

Ranma nodded, relaxing a bit back into the barstool. "I'm not from here," he began. "I don't mean 'not from Midgar.' I've seen a map of this world, and it looks nothing like the world I know. I came here two weeks ago, and before that day, I didn't know what Shinra was, or mako, or SOLDIER, or materia, or even chocobos," he smiled weakly, "though I'm still not sure I believe the idea of a horse crossed with an ostrich. During martial arts training a few years ago, I fell into a cursed spring. Since then, well," he gestured to the pool of water soaking into the floorboards. "Two weeks ago, I was in my hometown of Tokyo. Something… happened, I still don't know what. Whatever happened, I got dropped outside your bar over in the junk pile back there, and started looking for a way home.

"I'm still looking for a way home," he continued. "But until I find it, I'm keeping Aerith safe for her family. Then Shinra decided to make it personal for me, so if you wanna know what 'side' I'm on, I'm on the side of giving them a reason to stop what they're doing," Ranma finished, slamming a closed fist into an open palm.

Tifa stepped forward, moving around the crowded bar. "You could have told me you were a guy when we were outside earlier," she said pointedly, glaring at Ranma.

Ranma snorted. "Yeah, I can just see how that conversation woulda gone," he replied. "'Hi, I'm Ranma, I'm short, I've got red hair, and I have a rack you could dry dishes on. I'm also a guy depending on whether I've had a shower recently. Let's all hug, then go fight evil!' Something like that?" he concluded, rolling his eyes.

Tifa frowned at him. "You don't think much of us, do you?"

"I don't know you well enough to day yet," Ranma answered, "but if I said all'a that outside you'd look at me like I'm some kind of crazy hobo or somethin'. Probably just dump me out at the train station and be done with it."

Both Aerith and Cloud frowned at him from behind, but Ranma hadn't noticed. "You might wanna drop the subject, Ranma," Tifa warned, the friendliness dropping out of her voice, placing one hand around the glass of cold water she had set on the bar a few moments earlier.

Ranma eyed the glass and then Tifa. "What, ya wanna handicap me, too?" he demanded, not really registering yet that Tifa had let go of the glass and stepped into his personal space. "Think I'm too much of a challenge unless we're the same gender?"

Tifa slapped him. It was the loudest and most important sound in the room for a brief moment. Ranma turned to face Tifa, and for the first time properly focused on the expression of anger and disbelief on her face, as well as on the others. He sighed, and turned to Aerith. "I... probably deserved that," he said quietly.

Aerith nodded. "You did," she confirmed, her own expression softening somewhat. "That was the whole 'stupid pride' thing you were telling me about?" Ranma nodded his affirmative. "Yeah, if she hadn't hit you for that one, and you kept going like that, I would have."

Ranma sighed again, and grumbled inarticulately for a moment at himself. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry I didn't say anything before, an' I'm under a bit of stress right now since we've recently had guns pointed at the two of us on two separate occurrences, so I... overreacted there, and I apologize. But I haven't found a version of this conversation that doesn't go wrong for somebody. I gave a pretty similar explanation of the curse to Aerith and her mother. Her mother _fainted_." Ranma thought for a moment. "Actually, that one was probably the least problematic reaction I've had to date."

"So you're a guy," Barret said, shrugging. "A guy from another planet? Whatever. Don't see how that equals 'trust.'"

"I think I see it," Tifa said, stepping behind Ranma. She grabbed the glass of cold water from the bar, and unceremoniously splashed the contents across the back of his head. "You said you fought against the Turks before. And you fought them today. When you came here, you looked like a girl, which means that's how the Turks know you. So, if you turn on us, we can hose you down and throw you to the wolves."

Ranma shook the excess water free from her hair and nodded. "I'd appreciate you not make a habit of doing that," she replied, "but yeah, that's basically it."

"And_ I'd_ appreciate you not insulting and starting fights in here with the people you're supposed to be allies with," Tifa countered. "Think you can manage that?"

Ranma hesitated a moment, but then gave her a thumbs-up. "Yeah, I'll keep my attitude in check. Thanks for understanding."

Barret nodded slowly. "Not quite trust, but it's enough to go on. What about the girl?"

Aerith looked around briefly, unsure of what to say. Ranma took a step forward. "We had an agreement, Barret," she growled, gritting her teeth. "Let's not start off on the wrong foot."

Barret shook his head. "This ain't a threat," he countered. "Jes' wanna know her story."

Aerith glanced between the two of them, still uncertain. "I…" she hesitated, lowered her head, and closed her eyes. "I've lost people to Shinra. I don't want to get into the details right now… it's very… personal, to me."

There was a short, uncomfortable silence. "Barret," Tifa said, chastising.

Barret rolled his eyes. "Fine, fine," he waved his hand in dismissal. "So, now we get to the offer. AVALANCHE is fighting Shinra, but even though 'fighting Shinra' is what we're doin', they're just the target. Shinra is sucking the planet dry to line their pockets. The rot and pollution makes the lives of everyone below the plate miserable, and most of the people down here haven't seen sunlight mosta their lives. The planet's dying, they're killing everyone, bit by bit, and they know about alla it, but won't lift a finger to help them."

Barret stood up and began pacing, gesturing with both arms while he spoke. "They destroy land, kill people, wage wars just to expand their grip on the world, pump pollution and disease onto people's homes, and if they ain't stopped they'll keep doing it until there's nothing left." His gaze met that of the two girls in turn. "We fight 'em because not everyone can fight for themselves. And we fight 'em because… these days, there's nobody else left who'll try."

Ranma nodded. "'The first duty of a martial artist,'" she recited, "'is to protect the innocent.'"

Aerith inclined her head. "I can't let them destroy Gaia or the lives of those who live here," she said, her determination breaking through her fear. "I'll join you."

Tifa nodded and smiled. "All right, then. Welcome to AVALANCHE."

Barret gave a rough but genuine smile. "The two boys there are Wedge and Biggs," he said, gesturing in turn to the larger man in the corner and the skinny one in fatigues. "Redhead's Jessie," he introduced the woman sitting near Biggs. "Little one's my daughter, Marlene," he said, throwing the girl a smile as he walked past the bar, standing next to the jukebox. "An' we got a special guest downstairs. Kinda the reason I was wary o' you two to begin with."

Ranma glanced around, noticing four solid wooden walls and no stairwell. "This place has a downstairs?" she asked, confused.

Barret grinned, but said nothing. He kicked one foot out and hit the pinball table firmly on the far side. Suddenly, there was a whir of machinery, and the pinball table - and the metal plate it stood on - began to descend through the floor. "Come on down," he said with a smirk, stepping onto the platform.

Ranma saw a ladder, the top rungs of which had been concealed by the pinball table, set into the wall. She hopped on and climbed down to the lower level, followed by Aerith and then Tifa. "Huh. Cozy," she said, looking around.

The basement was small, but functional. Thick metal piping ran along one wall. A fairly large television was propped up on old wooden crates in a corner. A small personal computer sat near the TV. A large, squat table sat in the middle of the room, covered in maps and schematics of varying levels of complexity. Almost an entire wall was occupied by what appeared to be a digital whiteboard of some kind, with a printer attached to it. A heavy punching bag sat in one corner.

On the floor, next to the punching bag, sat a pale-skinned man with a weaselly face, dressed in a cheap three-piece suit, arms bound behind him. "Oh, so you've come back?" he said in a nasal tone. "Finally seen reason, yeah?"

Barret turned to glare at him. "Shut it," he said simply, thumping his fist on the table. "Ranma, Aerith, this little shitstain here is named Crick. We caught him snoopin' around right after we got back this mornin'. What we don't know is why he's here or who's he workin' for. Was gonna start beatin' it out of him in a few minutes, but…" he shrugged. "Somethin' upstairs got my attention for a coupla minutes, you know how it is."

The weasel-faced man, in what had to be the single boldest move of his life, glared his defiance at Barret. Ranma glanced between the two of them. "Hey, Barret, anythin' particular on the other side of this wall?" she asked.

Barret stopped short at the odd question. "Nah, neighbors don't have anything below ground," he replied after a moment. "Means nobody'll hear him screamin' when it comes time."

Ranma shook her head. "Won't be necessary," she answered. "Gimme a couple minutes." She stepped around the table and looked over the captive. The outfit he wore was similar to that of the Turks, but it was clearly a poor imitation; aside from being the wrong color, it was clearly untailored and meant for someone shorter, as the jacket sleeves stopped halfway down his forearms. His gaze jumped between Barret in the back, Aerith idly twirling her staff, and Ranma's purposeful stride towards him. She stopped about a foot away, pulled one of the small crates that had obviously been used for chairs towards herself, and sat down. "Crick, was it?" she asked politely.

"Oh, go to hell," he spat out, shuffling slightly to one side, leaning around to glare at Barret and the others. "She don't scare me. Maybe try bringing someone who doesn't belong over at the Honey Bee Inn, yeah?"

Ranma's expression solidified. Aerith looked over at Ranma, and then stepped sharply away from her, sliding between Barret and Tifa. Barret noticed the reaction, and glanced down at Aerith. "Somethin' I oughta know about?" he asked quietly.

Aerith turned slowly to face the wall, to prevent Crick from seeing her lips move. "Ranma has a lot of pride wrapped up in her… in _his… _masculinity, in his strength," she answered. "Crick just said probably about the worst thing he could have possibly said at that moment. Whatever Ranma was planning to do before , I doubt she's in the mood for subtlety any more."

"All 'dem words supposed to mean somethin'?" Barret asked again.

Aerith smiled a perverse little smile. "In short, I think you're about to see just how strong she really is."

Barret nodded slowly, not fully understanding, but shifted his attention to focus on the two of them in the corner. Ranma said nothing, but moved her left arm and extended her index finger, pointing at the solid concrete wall, her eyes staring directly at Crick. She shifted position slightly, her torso obscuring the view of exactly what she was doing. She then began to extend her arm, and moved it in a series of short sweeps and curving lines, as if drawing or writing something. Crick appeared to be experiencing some morbid fascination with whatever it was she was doing, as he was unable to look away even as his expression wandered aimlessly between fear and wonder.

After a few moments, Ranma stopped, gestured to Crick, and sat back down to face him, now holding that finger against the man's head. "Fuuu_uuck this,_" Crick whimpered, his voice gradually raising in pitch, trying to scurry in any direction. Ranma followed his motions effortlessly, the finger tracking his forehead as if tethered by a string, never more than an inch or two away. "Stop! Minerva help me, just leave me alone!"

Ranma smiled, and slowly pulled her hand back, still leaving that finger extended in an odd threat. "Barret?" she said quietly, not looking away. Barret shrugged, and took a few steps around the table. When he realized what the girl had done, it took a lot of self-control to keep from bursting out into laughter.

The phrase "Ranma Saotome Was Here" was now engraved into the foundation concrete of the basement wall, at the approximate depth of one index finger. A small but noticeable amount of powdered concrete was on the ground near Crick. A larger and definitely more noticeable amount of urine currently occupied the floor, as well as the bottom of Crick's pants.

Ranma glared at the man. "Answer his questions," she began lightly, before her eyes glinted with menace and her tone shifted dark, "or I might have to write _somewhere else_."

Tifa grinned a little bit at that. "All right, little miss badass," she said, "I think I owe you a glass of water."

"That's 'Mister' Badass, thank you very much," Ranma replied.

* * *

**A/N: Okay, let's get the obvious one out of the way. No, Ranma does not know the Bakusai Tenketsu technique that Ryoga has at his disposal. If he did, he wouldn't have been able to write in the wall, as that finger poke would have turned the foundation to dust and made the bar collapse inward. Ranma is however pretty darn strong, and more so if sufficiently annoyed. Putting one chi-enhanced finger through what is probably not high-quality concrete is pretty reasonable for someone who is regularly able to punch through modern walls.**

**Ranma historically has a habit of sticking his foot in his mouth. I felt it was time to demonstrate that. Hence the 'hug and go fight evil' speech. Also, it was a bit funny. For those who don't know Ranma also has a strong sense of honor, a hero streak a mile wide, a habit of standing in front of bullies no matter who's on the other side, and an existing promise to protect Aerith. Aerith, in turn, has a history of being hunted by people with guns, and sufficient reason to be nervous around someone with Barret's attitude. I always felt that Barret is, overall, a good man, but he really does have some tendencies in the early game towards overt and unnecessary aggression (see his interactions with the train conductor on the way back from Sector 1). Way to keep a low profile, man. This is why they picked Cloud to lead the party when they left Midgar.**

**There were a couple comments on Barret and Tifa being untrustworthy seeming out of character. I hope this helps clarify the point. Ranma, Aerith, and Cloud are showing back up at the bar without Tifa having left on her own to go confront Don Corneo; the person who Barret found and beat Corneo's name out of was never identified, so meet Crick. He will be absolutely unimportant from here on. **

**Hope you like it! Comments and feedback welcome!**


	12. Girls Night Out

**So there were... quite a few comments over the week regarding "the Slappening." I'd like to address that real quick. When I wrote the scene, I'd had two goals... one was to inject a little bit of Ranma's foot-in-mouth disease and his bad luck with women in general (please see: the entirety of Ranma 1/2), and two was to have a bit of fun with character reactions. I'd originally envisioned that Tifa was going to be less upset about Ranma lying or being male than a) belittling being female and b) being rude to Tifa in particular with the 'hug and go fight evil' speech. I may not have done as good a job conveying that as I thought. As a result I've decided I will go back and edit that scene to better convey the intent. That edit will probably go up next week, as this past one has been a bit busier than expected. Regardless, thank you all for this bit of feedback, as it is important to me to make this the best story I can. TL;DR The slap is staying but the scene will be improved to make it fit better.**

**Other comments!  
alicemisuzu: Ranma is willing to explain the basics of his history to people he trusts (or people who threaten him with death) because he's learned over the last year (see all of Ranma 1/2) that hiding the story, telling different versions, omitting key elements, or outright lying about it has caused almost as many problems for him as Genma's... everything... has. He's not going into the details of the Love Dodecahedron with AVALANCHE though, at least not on day one.  
Kaiya Azure: This is unlikely to appear as a plot element in this story, but frankly the idea of Shinra weaponizing the Jusenkyo curses is kinda terrifying. I could think of a couple dozen ways that could work and none of them are good. On the other hand, I have the capacity to be at least as much of an utter bastard as Hojo is in canon, so... maybe next fanfic?  
"Guest" and "Anonymous": This one was my fault. It has been _years_ since I've read the manga, and I'd misremembered the details of the Bakusai Tenketsu during my research. Slight exaggeration as a result. :D**

**All right, with that, on with the story!**

* * *

Chapter Twelve

Girls Night Out

[ ν ] - εγλ 0007, December 11

* * *

Ranma stood in front of the bar and finished pouring the fresh glass of warm water over his head. "That's a relief," he said. "Been spending too much time as a girl lately."

"And what's so bad about being a girl, anyway?" Tifa cut in, looking at him sideways.

Ranma sighed. "You're a martial artist, right?" he asked.

Tifa nodded. "Trained by the great Zangan," she replied, "though you'll probably tell me you don't know who that is."

"You'd say the same of Genma Saotome," he answered, "'cept you wouldn't catch me dead calling him 'great.' Point is… Actually, come here a sec, I can demonstrate." Tifa gave him another look, but set down the glass she was cleaning and stepped out from behind the bar. "Pardon me for saying it like this, but you've had your breasts all your adult life."

Tifa gave a brief glare, but restrained herself otherwise. "Yeah, so what?"

"So," Ranma continued, "you're used to 'em. They're natural. They're a part of who you are, you can work with 'em cuz of how you learned to fight. Now imagine at any moment, you will lose about twenty centimeters of height," he said, pushing downward on Tifa's shoulders firmly, causing her to bend at the knees slightly, "and your center of balance will change significantly on top of that," he pushed again on her upper back, tilting her forward slightly to simulate that change. "Since you're shorter overall, your limbs are shorter now too," and he tugged in at her elbows, "which means your striking range is reduced. The extra weight up top overbalances you when you jump or when you reach for somethin', and the extra... counterweight... gets in the way of your expected range of motion. Now, try to fight someone like this one out of three battles, and you'll get an idea where I'm comin' from here."

Tifa nodded, and stood back up. "Okay, you have a point," she conceded. "Now let me get back to work or I'll dunk you again."

As Tifa returned to the bar, Jessie looked over at him, and shrugged. "I don't think I'll ever get used to seeing that little swap of yours," she commented. "How do you even manage it?"

"Hah!" he barked vehemently. "Don't mistake composure for ease. It sucks. It's not something I have a lotta control over, the damn curse _attracts_ water. And even in cases where I get to decide _when _I tell people about it, like just now, I don't usually have control of the _situation _as well."

Biggs shook his head. "Yeah, you're definitely a weirdo," he said, taking a drink of his beer. "But you're our kind of weirdo."

Wedge lifted his mug in response. "Hear hear," he called out.

Behind him, Aerith appeared on the ladder leading into the basement, taking a few steps away from the hole in the wood panels. Ranma gave her a smile. "So, now what?"

The clank of machinery sounded, and the hidden platform began to rise again. Barret stood on the platform, a grim look on his face. "So, we got a new player," he announced. "My new friend downstairs says he works for Don Corneo. Seems he might be lookin' to expand his reach."

The general mood of the room indicated to Ranma that this was not a desired outcome. "Okay, I've heard of this guy since I got here, but mostly rumors," Ranma said. "What's the deal with him?"

Tifa scowled. "Scum of the worst sort," she replied. "Almost as bad as Shinra, but on a smaller scale."

Barret inclined his head and began counting off on his fingers. "Murder, protection rackets, slavery and forced prostitution, extortion and blackmail, and even if you somehow ignored alla that, the man's a slimeball."

Ranma nodded. "So getting him out of the way could only improve things down here," he mused out loud.

"Yeah, but that's the problem," Barret responded. "We need to know exactly what he's up to, something our friend downstairs wasn't in the know for. If we go over there and start a ruckus, he might do a runner while his little private army of goons makes everyone's lives hell. Shinra don't even go there if they can help it."

Tifa nodded her understanding. "So we'd need to sneak in somehow. Either ambush Corneo where he can't get away, or lure him into a trap somehow."

"Well, some luck there," Barret remarked. "Crick said Corneo's in the market for a wife… though why anyone would want to marry that pile o' trash is beyond me. He apparently gets a couple 'candidates' each night, picks one to keep for himself, and tosses the rest to his lackeys." Most of those present shared a collective shudder at the implications of that statement. "I don't wanna ask this of any o' ya, but we need the women of AVALANCHE to step up."

Jessie stood suddenly, hands on the bar table, shaking her head. "I'm going to have to sit this one out, sir," she said apologetically. "I'm… known there. Before I joined AVALANCHE, I did a job for Corneo's current lieutenant. If I showed up, I'd just put the whole mission in danger."

Barret raised an eyebrow. "Even if we set you up with a disguise or somethin'?" Jessie shook her head and sat down. "Damn. All right, so Tifa, Aerith… Sorry, Aerith, but it's kinda needed. And we still need a third."

All eyes suddenly swung to meet Ranma.

Ranma blinked. "Oh no," he said, shaking his head. "No, _no_, no, _hell _no, absolutely _not_, I am _not_ gonna put on a skirt so I can get groped by some sleazebag crime lord and his cronies!"

Wedge looked up from his game. "Ranma, as much as I sympathize, if Jessie can't do it, it's either you or Cloud."

Every mind in the bar, Cloud himself included, briefly considered this. Every mind subsequently rebelled. "Yeah, I don't think that'd work," Cloud responded, a sour look on his face from the mental image. "I'd do it if there was no other option, but I seriously doubt that I'd be able to hide the sword under a dress."

Ranma frowned. "Remind me later on to teach you somethin' about the Joketsuzoku Hidden Weapons Style," he muttered sarcastically, "maybe then all of you can wear skirts and go dancing somewhere with all the swords and guns you can carry." Cloud and Barret both glared at him. Ranma waved his arms in surrender. "Fine, fine, whatever, tell me the plan, get me a dress for this, let's get this stupid thing over with."

-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-

"Aerith?" Ranma called out from the changing room, a note of uncertainty in her voice.

"Yes, Ranma?" Aerith responded.

"You are never, ever allowed to pick out clothing for me, ever again."

Aerith giggled a little. "Well, forgive me for saying so, but your fashion sense is…" She cast about for a polite way to say 'abysmal,' and finally settled on, "...non-existent, by Midgar standards anyway."

Ranma didn't really consider that statement to be a selling point for what she was being asked to put on. The platform wedges weren't helping. "Seriously, how am I supposed to even walk in these things?"

_Probably not the way you walk in them,_ Aerith thought flippantly. Aloud, she said, "Come out here and let's see what you're doing."

"I will get you back for this one day, Aerith," Ranma said, though even she knew there wasn't much she could do about it. She stumbled out of the changing room, and glared at Aerith. Currently dressed in a red leather miniskirt and matching halter top, covered by an oversized biker's jacket. She stubbornly retained her short pigtail.

Aerith nodded, not believing a word of it herself. "Okay, walk around, let's see," she said. Ranma's balance in the shoes appeared to be perfect when standing still, but when she took a step, all of that poise seemed to go out the window. It looked like she was tripping over nothing. Repeatedly. "Are you…" Aerith watched the rapid movement of Ranma's feet in disbelief. "Are you trying to _jump _in those shoes?"

Ranma gave an exasperated glare. "Well, I can't exactly walk in them!"

Aerith laughed, and then grabbed Ranma by the shoulders. "Feet on the ground, stop moving," she instructed. After a moment, Ranma complied. "Put one foot in front of the other- stop there," she said, trying to guide Ranma through the motions. "Foot down, put your weight on it, move the other foot the same distance. Don't overextend your steps."

Ranma nodded, and did her best to follow Aerith's hasty but effective instructions. "How do you fight in these?" she wondered out loud.

"You don't," Aerith replied offhandedly. "Walk around the store a couple times, but I think you might have it now." Ranma circled dutifully twice in one direction, and once in the opposite direction, making sure she could balance properly when turning as well. "Yeah, you do learn fast, that's for sure. I'd be jealous if I didn't just have to teach a seventeen-year-old girl how to walk in wedges."

Ranma grumbled. "Why'd you pick such an outfit for me anyway?" she asked.

"Because," Tifa said, strolling in from outside in a baby-blue minidress and matching heels, "_we_ don't want you to be picked, and frankly _you_ don't want you to be picked, but we still need you to participate. Corneo's got… particular tastes. I doubt you could pull off 'hooker'. But if you look like a street tough who's trying to be sexy, then you might get away with it." She effortlessly sashayed around in the dress. "But frankly, Ranma, you move too much like a fighter to be able to get away with much else." Ranma went back to grumbling. "What about you, Aerith? Still deciding?"

Aerith shook her head. "No, I've already picked out mine, but I wanted to make sure Ranma didn't wind up needing crutches." She indicated a deep red dress hanging up next to the changing room.

Tifa stepped over and examined it. "Looks good, Aerith," she said appraisingly. "All right girls, we're on the clock, so let's head out as soon as Aerith is ready."

Ranma took a seat, tugging the hem of her skirt down as far as she could manage, while Aerith stepped over to the changing room and pulled her dress in with her. "Tifa?" Ranma said quietly.

"Hm?" Tifa said, sitting down nearby.

"I need to know something," Ranma replied. "I trust Aerith, and so far she's given me no reason not to trust her, but I need to know... " she trailed off. "You really… don't know where I'm from, do you?"

Tifa shook her head. "Never heard of Japan, never heard of Tokyo, none of it," she confirmed. "Honestly, I thought your name made you Wutaian, but…"

"Yeah, Aerith said the same," Ranma answered. "Did a little research last week. It's weird, there are a lot of similarities between Japan and Wutai. But… it's all skin-deep. It's not my home. This whole place… isn't my home."

Tifa nodded and slid closer, wrapping one arm companionably over Ranma's shoulder. "Look, I'm not going to say you're actually from anywhere, but for what it's worth, I believe you. I know we've only known each other a day now, but…" Tifa sighed. "I have to believe that it's possible that somewhere exists that is better than this place."

Ranma nodded. "My world isn't exactly flawless, y'know," she explained. "People get the short end of the stick sometimes. There are criminals and psychopaths, and regular folks who live in the middle of it. Saints, sinners, heroes and monsters alike, and what makes it harder is that all of them look human on the outside."

Tifa looked at her sideways. "And you want to go back to this place?" she asked unthinkingly. "Why?"

"Well…" Ranma thought of a way to put it into words. "...It's _home_," she said simply. She then turned to Tifa and grinned. "Also, far as I can tell, your world doesn't have chocolate."

Tifa blinked suddenly. "...the hell is _chocolate_?"

"I rest my case."

The rest of that conversation was cut short as Aerith pulled back the changing room curtain. Dressed immaculately in a strappy mid-length red dress, her normally braided hair was hanging loose from her pink bow. A pair of glossy red flats peeked out from the ruffled hem every couple steps. "How do I look?" she asked.

Ranma smiled despite herself. "Not bad," she admitted. "Give me your stuff, I'll carry it."

Aerith gratefully handed Ranma her staff and a small satchel containing her normal clothing. Ranma performed a complicated movement with her arms, and the staff and bag disappeared. "Wait," she asked, confused. "Where did they go?"

Ranma repeated the action, and the bag and staff were once again in her hands. "I'll be honest," she said, smiling awkwardly, "I don't even get _how _this one works, but it does. Tifa, anything you want me to carry?"

Tifa grinned and stood up. "Nah, I've got my gloves… concealed… my own way. Okay, girls," she said, pulling Ranma to her feet. "We've got work to do."

-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-

Wall Market was named for, unsurprisingly, the twenty-odd-meter tall concrete wall between Sectors 6 and 7. There was a great deal of late-night bar-room-philosopher debate as to the reason for the wall, as no other lower sector contained such a physical division between two areas. Despite the debate, the actual reason for the wall was, perhaps unsurprisingly, mundane. In short, Shinra built the wall, and then promptly forgot about it as they went on to do other things.

The Corneo estate enclosed the far back of Wall Market, and the rear of the main structure was flush with the eponymous wall. The wall itself provided a neat barrier between Wall Market as a whole and Midgar's central pillar, which also blocked most of the noise from the periodic trains and coal smoke from permeating the air. Coupled with the fact that the Sector 6 plate was still under construction nearly fifty years after Midgar had been founded, which allowed clean air to circulate freely, and Wall Market was actually one of the better pieces of real estate in the Midgar slums.

It turned out that getting past security at the Corneo estate was fairly simple, as long as you were female. The three women walked up to the main gate, and Tifa introduced themselves to the gate guard as "tonight's competition." Apparently, that was sufficient, as they were all three immediately ushered into the main hall.

Which was quite possibly the gaudiest building in the entire world.

The entire interior had been built in a blind mockery of Wutaian architecture, with visible surfaces painted bright red or covered in gold leaf, and an enormous sweeping staircase on one side that appeared to be painted with obscene murals along the outside. Doors and carpets were instead sliding panels and tatami mats, and an enormous gold-plated gong with Corneo's name stood near the stairwell.

If it weren't for the sheer mind-bending, vomit-inducing delusion of grandeur the building radiated, Ranma might have actually felt strangely at home. As it was, she was suppressing the urge to break things. She stood to one side, leaning against the wall with her hands in the pocket of her leather jacket, while Corneo's lackey, a thug named Scotch, drooled over the three of them and attempted to inflate his importance.

After several minutes of politely repelling Scotch's grabby hands, Corneo himself arrived. Dressed in a simple white t-shirt and faded denim jeans, he wore a bright red overcoat with fur trim on the sleeves and lower hem, clearly aspiring to some image of royalty. His blonde hair was shaved on either side of his head, and coiffed into some bizarre combination of a pompadour and comb-over on top. One side of his shaved head had a heart tattoo with the word 'Love' scrawled over top of it.

"Oh, and what loveliness do we have this evening?" he called out from the second floor balcony, a voice that managed to screech despite the gravelly tone that accompanied years of alcohol and tobacco. "Scotch, bring the ladies upstairs!" And with that, he retreated out of sight of the foyer.

"This way, ladies!" Scotch said, his voice somehow conspiring to contain a leer in it. He stepped up the staircase and held open the sliding door at the top of the balcony, gesturing for the trio to step in.

The reception area, for lack of a better term, was no less gaudily appointed, but also covered in dirty clothes and beer bottles. The trashy overtones removed even the artificial sense of magnificence the foyer was imbued with. Another, smaller gong of what appeared to be heavily verdigrised copper stood near the far end of the room. Corneo stood behind it and ogled the three women as they entered, taking a long drag on his cigar as he did so.

"My goodness, Scotch, where do they keep churning out these gorgeous women?" Corneo said out loud, appearing not to address any of the women directly. He vaulted clumsily over the small gong, and began pacing back and forth in front of them, taking it in turn to examine each of them. "Such beauty, the splendor, so magnificent!" he shouted at various points. "But which one shall I take for the evening?"

Ranma hunched her jacket over her shoulder unenthusiastically, her gaze settling down and away from the crime lord, making no effort to conceal her boredom. Tifa did her best to retain at least the illusion of enthusiasm, but her patience was clearly eroding under the man's constant remarks. Aerith nervously glanced between Ranma and Corneo, clearly unnerved by the proximity of the criminal, and did her best to appear demure.

"Aha!" Corneo shouted. "I've made my decision!" He ran around the room once in excitement, and stopped again in front of one of the three. "This one! Scotch, you and your men may… ahem, entertain yourselves with the others."

All three women shared a significant look.

Aerith had been selected.

* * *

**A/N: Betcha weren't expecting that. ****Yes, it probably would have been funnier if Ranma had been selected, but... eh. I get my laughs elsewhere.**

**I know I'm probably going to get flak for this in the comments, but I honestly was never that much amused by the crossdressing scene in FF7. It's not that I think Cloud's too macho to pull it off; if anything, the official renders of him as the art improved over the last twenty years only make him look more androgynous after a fashion. That being said, my reasons for not liking the scene are about the same as my reasons for not liking the movie Some Like It Hot; I don't think crossdressing should be a punchline. I'm not gonna soapbox on the subject here (because I could probably write a couple thesis-length papers on the topic at this point), but that's how I feel. Having said that, I admit I'm subjecting Ranma to it instead is a bit hypocritical, but at the same time, he's at least had prior experience with the matter.**

**The technique Ranma uses here to conceal the bag and staff is an adaptation of the Joketsuzoku Hidden Weapons Style, which is used primarily by Mousse in Ranma 1/2. On paper, it allows a trained user to conceal a truly absurd amount of weapons and objects on their person, as long as they are wearing at least some clothing, and call upon them at will. In practice, it's hammerspace as a martial art. Ranma is not a trained user, but this version of him has picked up enough of it over his repeated exposure to Mousse's BS to be able to pull off a version of the basic technique.**

**Other references abound here! "Do not mistake composure for ease" is lifted from Star Trek Voyager, a line spoken by Tuvok when someone asked him about how he always looked composed no matter what happened around him. "You guys don't have chocolate" is paraphrased from Farscape, as a flippant answer to why John Crichton wants to go back to his single, plague-ridden, war-torn planet. Corneo's mansion is canonically built along a Wutaian aesthetic, though as you probably recall it looked like a garbage fest of tacky gold.**

**Ranma's red outfit here was, originally, intended to be a reference to Blaze Fielding's outfit from the Streets of Rage series of beat-em-ups on the Sega Genesis. I say 'originally' because after I wrote this chapter, I was doing more research and I found an image that Yoshitaka Amano, longtime character artist for the FF series, had made of Tifa during the early concept works. And... yeah, it's basically this outfit. Like with the story joining up at chapter 7, I can only claim serendipity.**

**Also... seriously. Where in Minerva's name did Cloud hide that damn sword of his during the original scene, anyway? It's not like it was gonna fit under his dress.**

**Hope you like it! Comments and feedback welcome!**


	13. Don Corneo

**Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Blessed Yule, and overall Happy Holidays! I am thankful to have had a significant amount of peace and quiet over the holidays, no family incidents, and no major drama. Honestly, that's the best I could hope for.**

**Comments!  
doraemax: My second girlfriend was a big fan of Highlander way back in the day and I remember her variation on the lyrics of the movie's title theme, "Princes of the Universe"... ~I am immortal!/I have a broadsword up my ass!~  
Death Of Snipers: The logic I had with still going through the original 'infiltration' method is that this is Tifa's operation. Ranma could have turned Corneo's mansion into rubble, never mind his small army of criminals, had he gone all out. He also probably could have snuck in on his own. However, both options would have left him without backup, and having to deal with an assload of guys with guns who are willing to use them. The fic operates on a simple logic of 'guns and bullets or sufficiently sharp objects' are greater than 'human physiology'. Ranma's fortitude notwithstanding, he's not invulnerable.  
Kaiya Azure: Ranma learning kunoichi arts specifically to exploit the gendershift mechanic actually sounds like a really good story idea. I don't know enough about the KoF-verse to feel confident writing that, but... I'd love to read it.**

**Story time! (minor edit to fix the fact that I didn't realize the text deleted the 'greater than' symbol)**

* * *

Chapter Thirteen

Don Corneo

[ ν ] - εγλ 0007, December 11

* * *

Aerith squeaked slightly after having processed the result of the selection. She glanced at the other girls, meeting their eyes, before looking back to Corneo. "Mister Corneo, sir, the others will be treated okay?" she asked quietly, folding her hands together.

Corneo's expression shifted between delight to amusement. "Oh, what touching concern for her fellow competitors," he chuckled through his greasy tone. "Of course, my dear, they will be treated quite… companionably, I assure you. This way, my dear!" he finished, leading Aerith towards what everyone assumed was Corneo's bedroom.

Ranma gave Aerith a curt nod just before she vanished behind the sliding panel. _Stay safe, we'll be there soon_, she thought. She turned to follow Scotch out of the reception area.

"Well, then, ladies," Scotch said, guiding both women with a grab to their butts, "let me introduce you to your- grk…" The rest of his pitch trailed off as Ranma and Tifa both struck him hard in the solar plexus in response to the unwanted groping. The man crumpled like a rag, and Ranma hoisted him in a fireman's carry, hurrying rapidly downstairs with the unconscious man and dumping him out of sight beneath the stairs. She took a moment to look around the lower floor, checking the reception area for any hidden observers, but saw nobody and nothing. It seemed as though all of Corneo's security focus was turned outward, rather than anyone patrolling within.

"I swear, he deserves worse for all that," Tifa said quietly, reaching into her dress as Ranma returned. Ranma blushed hard, and turned sharply away. "Oh for - wait, right, sorry, still keep thinking of you as a girl. Thanks for the moment of privacy, Ranma."

Ranma turned back around to the sight of Tifa confidently pulling her studded gloves back on over her hands, flexing her fingers as they slid on. "Wait, _that's _where you hid your gloves?" Ranma hissed.

"...well, yeah," Tifa replied. "Girls do have a couple advantages when it comes to that sort of thing." She looked to either side of the balcony. "Think you can handle the rest of the guards on that side?"

Ranma nodded. "I'm going to need a whole bucket of hot water to wash that man off of me when we're done though," she commented. "Sleazy little…"

Tifa shushed her, but nodded her understanding. "Looks like there's a stairwell down this side," she said. "I'll see if there's anything down that way. Meet back here in a couple minutes, then we go check up on Aerith and… ugh… Corneo."

"Trust me on this," Ranma said quietly, "the girl's tougher than she looks, and that's before my training. It'll be better if we finish up quickly, but I think she'll be fine for a few minutes."

"You have that much faith in her?"

"I'd believe in anyone who could grow up in a place like this and come out basically good," Ranma answered. "Get goin', I'll be back here in a minute or two."

Tifa gave the redhead a nod, and turned down the stairwell at the far end. Ranma waited until she was out of sight, then slid open the door that Scotch had been guiding them towards, and pretended to stumble in backward, shutting the door as she passed. "Oi, girly," one of the thugs inside called out. "Whuzzup? Scotch comin' or what?"

In a heartbeat, her eyes scanned over the room. Five thugs, dressed mostly in what might have passed in Ranma's world as biker gang attire. A sixth, dressed in a cheap-looking suit jacket and slacks, sat at the side of what looked for all the world like a mahjong table to Ranma's eyes, the tiles set at the start of a match. Each man had at least one gun concealed about their person, among other weapons Ranma would have considered standard-issue criminal gear. Cushions littered the floor where most of the men had been sitting, with an older-looking but fairly large television set standing in the corner of the room, replaying a news broadcast covering the events of the previous two days.

Ranma shrugged, shoving her hands into her pockets. "He called dibs on the other girl." There was a series of disappointed groans. "Don't worry, I'll _take care_ of all of you," she said, giving a quick giggle at her own intended meaning that sailed right over their heads.

"Sure ya got the stamina for all o' us?" another asked.

Ranma grinned evilly. "I'll manage," she said. "Before we get started, how would you all like to see a little magic trick?"

There was a brief moment of uncertainty. "Okay, girly, I'll bite," the first man grumbled. "What kind of magic trick?"

"I can make a two-meter tall pole appear out of nowhere."

That got their attention. "What, like a pole dance?" a third piped up.

"Somethin' like that," Ranma admitted.

There was a round of giggles. "Tell ya what, girly, you make a pole appear, I'll give ya five hundred gil," the first guy shouted out, holding up a coin pouch.

"Deal," she said, and performed a precise movement with her arms, suddenly holding Aerith's staff. Suitably impressed, the men clapped and whistled their appreciation. She reached out with the staff and snagged the coin pouch from the man. "Next trick?" she said, and _blurred_. A moment later there were five loud metallic _thunk_ noises, followed quickly by five men falling unconscious to the floor. "Let's make this a private party," Ranma said with a dangerous tone, stepping forward to the lone remaining man.

-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-

Tifa stood over the unconscious body of the last man, who had been standing around in the basement. Despite Tifa's better effors, the man either genuinely hadn't known anything, or had been sufficiently loyal to or scared of Corneo that she hadn't been able to budge him. Barring anything else to do, she knocked the man out. She then spent the next several minutes investigating, but hadn't found much more than a decidedly single-purpose table, a number of BDSM-themed accessories, and a rack of interesting looking toys. There was a computer terminal, but there was nothing on it about Sector 7. In fact, the machine appeared to be almost completely empty. There wasn't anything about any particular sector on the computer, only a single file containing a long list of names and a large number of increasingly personal details regarding each one.

After a couple minutes of cross-reference, Tifa realized it was basically a blackmail database. She briefly considered copying it in case anything on it would be useful to AVALANCHE. A moment later, she shook her head and erased the data from the file. "Better that _nobody _has this," she whispered to herself. Pulling on her materia bangle, she summoned a Thunder spell and fried the entire drive for good measure.

Running upstairs, she saw Ranma idly waiting by the reception door, who had somehow already changed back into her familiar red tunic and black pants, and was holding Aerith's staff at the ready. She was still wearing the red leather jacket, instead of the heavier trooper coat she had been sporting before. She held a bag that Tifa already knew contained her own outfit. "Thanks," Tifa accepted it from Ranma.

"I peeked in a second ago," Ranma explained, turning her back to afford what little privacy she could give. "Aerith is okay for now, but we should hurry."

"Give me a minute." There was the sound of swishing cloth. "Find anything useful?"

"Just that it's really easy to sucker-punch cretins like that when they think you're defenseless," Ranma answered, the smile in her voice unmistakable. "I try to hold back when I can, but there's some times honor has to take a back seat to practicality. The only one who looked like he had a brain didn't know anythin'. They'll all wake up in about three hours with a splittin' headache, but that'll be the least of their worries, cuz I also hogtied them all to the ceiling."

Tifa snorted at the description of the girl's exploits. "How did you even manage that?" she asked. "Where were you keeping enough rope to do something like that?"

"Same place I kept your clothes," she answered. "Sadly, that was the last of my rope, I'll need to get more when we're done here. Good for knotwork practice, climbing down heights, and occasionally trussin' up criminals like pinatas."

There was a long silence between them. "Ranma?" Tifa asked.

"Hm?"

"You've never had to kill before, have you?"

Ranma blinked at the question, startled out of propriety, and turned to face Tifa, who by now was fully clothed and was packing away her blue minidress. "No," she answered honestly. "I've always been able to avoid it."

Tifa handed Ranma the package, who accepted it and made it disappear again. "I envy you a world that lets you avoid that decision," she said quietly, eyes downcast. "But you may need to make that choice soon. Shinra does not play by the same rules you do."

Ranma hesitated, but nodded in response. "I know," she replied. "I'm... not looking forward to it." There was a long pause. "You've had to, haven't you?"

Tifa briefly considered sparing the redhead, but decided against it. "I've killed people, yes. Some quite recently. Sometimes I wish it wasn't necessary, but it is." She tugged at the straps on her gloves. "It's not an easy thing, though. Sometimes it's just about making sure I stay alive, or protecting my friends. AVALANCHE tries to minimize civilian casualties, but it's not easy when you're trying to stop people from sucking the life out of the planet."

Ranma nodded gently, considering her words. "I... If it came to it... If I had to... there are people, I would probably kill for, to protect them." She glanced briefly at the floor. "Came close to it a couple of times. Managed to knock 'em out, scare 'em off, or just pull somethin' outta my ass at the last second to exploit a weakness. But the regular people in my world don't play for stakes like this..." she took a breath, then looked back up at Tifa. "Sorry, I should be good now."

Tifa gave the girl a soft smile. "I know this may not sound like a lot, considering what we all do for a career," she replied, "but I hope things go well, and for what it's worth, I hope you never have to make that choice."

Ranma returned the smile, then turned to face the sliding door heading into the back of the mansion. "Let's go."

-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-

Corneo was, predictably, on the oversized bed that occupied most of the room, thrusting his hips lewdly in Aerith's direction. "Oh, my lovely, you and I are going to have such fun," he drawled. "You have such lovely skin, beautiful eyes, and your hair-"

There was a clatter of sliding wooden doors behind Corneo as Ranma and Tifa stormed in, and he practically fell backward, scooting away on the satin sheets with his back to the bed stand. "The hell are you two bitches doing?" he demanded angrily.

"Shut it, clown," Ranma said, punching sharply into the wall to get the man's attention, leaving a neat fist-sized hole in the cheap wood. "Your security's all out for the count, nobody's coming to help you." She tossed Aerith her staff, and glared at Corneo.

Corneo's face turned beet red. "That does it!" he shouted, and drew a gun from one pocket, drawing a bead on Ranma. Who suddenly was not there. Before he could turn to aim at either of the others, there was a red-and-black blur, and the gun had been removed from his hand mid-turn. "What the fuck-" he started, but was cut off by Aerith pushing the tip of her staff firmly against the man's throat. He raised his hands in surrender and closed his mouth, breathing heavily.

"Aerith," Ranma called out, tossing her the satchel with her clothing in it. "Behind the divider, get changed. This shouldn't take long." Aerith nodded her understanding, and stepped behind the small privacy filter behind the bed.

There was a sound of cloth moving behind the screen. Corneo glanced between the two women in front of him, trying to guess at their purposes. "You're not assassins, or I'd be dead already," he declared. "So what the hell do you want from me?"

Tifa stepped up and put one foot on the bed. "You're gonna tell me a story," she began, an undertone to her words that Ranma hadn't noticed before. "A story about what the hell you're doing in Sector 7. And here's the best part. If you lie to me, or leave out a single detail, I will give you another chance." She smiled wickedly. "But in return for that second chance... I'll take your left nut," she whispered, her fingers miming a claw closing. "I think you can guess what'll happen with the third chance. There will not be a fourth."

Ranma stood to one side, casually unloaded the revolver she had swiped with a disdainful look, and crushed it in one hand, her eyes still firmly holding Corneo's gaze as the unspent bullets tumbled across the floor. "Not polite to keep a lady waiting, Donny-boy," she growled.

Corneo swallowed hard, his eyes drifting between the redhead's steely gaze and the pulped revolver in her left hand. "Fine, fine, they ain't payin' me enough for this shit anyway," he concluded, coming to a calm seated position with his back against the bed's backboard, stretching out lazily. "Shinra passed me a job yesterday morning. Told me to find a man with a gun attached to his arm. Far as I know, Shinra's trying to crush this little rebel group called AVALANCHE, and they paid me to help me find them. Just glad they're over in Sector 7, so when the hammer comes down I'll be out of the way."

There was a flash of metal, and the tip of Aerith's staff landed _hard_ just between Corneo's outstretched legs. "And?" Aerith prompted, back in her usual outfit, a hard look in the girl's eyes that Corneo hadn't seen even a full minute ago.

He shuddered involuntarily at the close call, retreating a little further into the headboard. "I gotta mole in Shinra that passes me stuff from time to time. Says that they're gonna just drop the plate on all of Sector 7, just to wipe out those rebels." He grinned, as if telling some great joke that sailed over everyone's heads. "Overkill, if you ask me, but gotta admire that determination!"

There was a moment of abject, horrified silence in the face of that statement. "They're going to drop the plate?" Tifa repeated, dumbfounded. "That… they're going to kill thousands! Everyone in the Sector 7 slums! People on top will die too! All that to wipe out…" she trailed off. "We have to warn everyone, get them evacuated, _something!_"

Ranma nodded, and turned to leave. "WAIT!" Corneo shouted.

"What the _hell _do you want now?" Tifa whirled on him angrily.

Corneo grinned from ear to ear. "Won't take long, I promise!" he said, both arms raised as he stood up at the back of his bed. "I know you think I'm scum, but I am also a man of my word, and I promise you, if you stay right there and listen to what I have to say, then in less than thirty seconds, you'll be _out of my house_."

The next three seconds appeared to pass in slow motion for Ranma. She had a moment where she realized, somehow, this was about to go wrong. Corneo's eyes flashed with malice, and one of his hands began to drop to his side. The room was too busy, too large, with too many clashing colors, and despite her best efforts she couldn't spot what was pinging her senses. The hand landed on a round, glowing orb. Attached to a pole. Which was actually a lever. Which pressed downwards, hard, under Corneo's weight. At that moment, Ranma's senses went into overdrive, and she understood exactly what was about to happen.

But by then, it was too late.

The floor underneath them fell away, and all three slid down into the darkness below. As they fell, Corneo's voice called out above them, echoing in the narrow passageway.

"**APS! DINNER TIME!**"

* * *

**A/N: Originally this chapter and the next were one chapter, but as the two developed, I felt it was important to get the stuff here out of the way on its own. The game plays Corneo for laughs, which is appropriate to the fact that both times he is encountered he is in way over his head with both the heroes and Shinra being pretty well able to curb-stomp him in direct combat. I also felt it was necessary to not play him like a complete fuck-up here, because he is at this point a rather prominent under-plate crime lord.**

**For the same reasons, I also didn't want to portray him sympathetically. He's scum. Irredeemable, unrepentant scum. Murder, extortion, rape, and gods know what else. So, yeah, he's not getting a redemption arc. He might show up later, I haven't decided if we're going to do much in Wutai or not yet. ****I also decided to drop all subtlety regarding the particular... ahem... threats given to Corneo regarding his manhood. Sorry to anyone who read that and winced. Next chapter is a boss fight, and we'll finally get some answers to several long-standing questions, as well as see Ranma in real combat in this universe.**

**Hope you like it! Comments and feedback welcome!**


	14. One Creek, No Paddle

**Welcome, dear readers, to the year two thousand twenty! Why are so many of you still reading this thing? :D Self-deprecating humor aside, a lot has happened in the last year for me, and I'm not going to go into it here. A lot of it has actually been good, but I'm hoping this year will be better. I'm also hoping that I eventually finish this fic, I've been working on the rough drafts for over three months with barely a break, and I'd like to get that done before the Remake comes out, maybe. :P The number of views and comments and people who are following this is, frankly, staggering to me, I honestly could not have foreseen this story becoming this well liked, and it means a lot to me that you all are enjoying the ride.**

**Comments!  
weebee and doraemax: I admit I was a lot younger when I read through the fight with Saffron. I'd... honestly forgotten that it had come to that. That being said, this version of Ranma has a more mundane but also more personal reason for his current behavior and the direction of his growth. We've got about... oh, about four more hours of gameplay to get through before then.  
guisniperman: I'm honestly not sure yet if we're going to Wutai, or how events will play out there should it happen. I suspect that if Corneo shows up again, the status of his nuts will end up being the least of his concerns. Canon literally drops him off a mountain, and I'm not inclined to treat him any kinder than that.**

**As a warning to anyone who is strongly affected by such things, this chapter and several chapters to come will contain significant depictions of death and destruction on a grand scale. Please keep this in mind, and enjoy the chapter.**

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Chapter Fourteen

One Creek, No Paddle

[ ν ] - εγλ 0007, December 11

* * *

The fall was not a life-threatening distance, but there were a number of sharp, disorienting turns as the tunnel slanted and shunted to its destination: The sewers, nearly forty meters below the surface of Midgar. Ranma, Tifa, and Aerith slid out of the tunnel and landed unceremoniously with a dull, thick splash at the bottom of the sewer.

"Ugh," Ranma complained, standing up quickly, "what a smell." She took a moment to wring dry the hem of her shirt.

"Seconded," Tifa called out, pushing herself to her feet. "But we have to hurry, we've got to get word to Barret and the others to evacuate Sector 7."

"Can't believe I fell for such an obvious trap," Ranma added. "Must be going senile…"

"Was it really _that_ obvious?" Tifa asked, as Aerith slowly stood up, looking past them down the sewer tunnel.

"Girls..." Aerith squeaked softly.

"I mean..." Ranma paused. "I felt something was wrong when he started spillin' the beans that easy, but..."

Tifa nodded her understanding. "Yeah, I get it, after hearing what they were doing, everything else kind of went out the window."

"Girls?" Aerith repeated, staring ahead and shaking slightly in trepidation.

Ranma turned to face Aerith, noticing the apprehension on the older girl's face. "You okay?" she asked, waving one hand in front of her eyes.

Aerith did not respond, except to raise one hand and point in the direction she was facing.

Tifa and Ranma turned to look in the direction Aerith had gestured , and then noticed the object of her attention. The creature blocking their path, Aps, was a hulking monstrosity resembling a cross between a satyr and an ogre. Its lower body was supported by cloven hooves and covered in thick, matted fur, soaked with the grime and dirt of time unknown spent deep within the sewers. The upper body was bare, tinged with a greenish hue, its arms sporting shackles and dragging broken chains behind it. The head was squat and almost piggish, except for the enormous, half-shattered Mako-glowing horns sprouting from its forehead.

There was a moment of uncertainty as Aps sized up the three girls in front of it. Its eyes seemed to be having a moment of difficulty focusing on them. It sniffed the air curiously, then its gaze focused and the expression on its face appeared to change.

"Oh, hell," Tifa breathed.

Aps reared back briefly, then leaned down and bellowed a challenging roar that echoed throughout the sewage tunnel. Before any of them could react further, Aps swung one enormous arm across the tunnel, catching Ranma across the torso with the end of the chainlink attached to its shackle. The force of the blow sent her flying, and Ranma impacted across the far wall, leaving a body-shaped impression in the moldering brickwork. A moment later, that brick crumbled inward, and Ranma fell to the ground, the bricks falling on top of and around her on the platform.

"...ow," Ranma commented, dazed as she took a moment to recover from the blow. She shook herself free of the pile of bricks, and stood up, fire in her eyes. "Okay, little piggy, let's dance…"

Ranma took a running start, and leaped from the edge of the channel wall, just as one of Aps' arms swung through the air sideways, clawing at the space she had just occupied. She twisted her body in midair and landed a spinning kick to the creature's snout, causing it to recoil in shock. Aps roared in anger and turned to claw at Ranma as she descended, swatting at the girl in midair, but the blow was pulled off target as Tifa grabbed the tip of the chain around its wrist and yanked hard, causing it to stumble. Ranma hopped up again, delivering a solid blow to the creature's knee, trying to further unsteady it.

Aps stomped its hooved feet at the three women, turning to swing its beefy arms wildly at any target, but the trio coordinated their attacks and their movements, keeping the beast off-balance and preventing it from drawing a bead on any one of them. Below, Tifa grunted with the effort of deflecting a hammer-blow from Aps' enormous arm, taking advantage of the moment of its unbalancing by grabbing the shackle and yanking as hard as possible, pulling the creature further out of balance. She then darted forward and punched hard into the monster's opposite kneecap, before leaping back and sending a jolt of Thunder into its body. Aerith charged forward, her staff whirling and striking any part of Aps within reach. As she passed to one side, Tifa tossed out a Fire spell, catching the creature on its matted fur, which began smoldering.

Aps roared in confusion, smacking at the singed fur, then turned its gaze on Aerith. Rearing up for an attack, it raised both arms and stretched to its full height, nearly grazing the vaulted roof twenty five feet overhead. Before it could commit to the strike, Ranma leaped in front of its face and cupped both hands together, seeming to hang in mid-air for a brief moment as her palms glowed brightly. "_M__ō__ko Takabisha_!" she shouted, pushing both arms forward. A bright orb of pale yellow energy, about half as tall as Ranma herself, flew out of her hands and smacked Aps square in the face, causing it to fall backwards, landing on its side.

Ranma landed lightly in the lower channel of the sewer, and Aerith practically leaped to hug her. "That was amazing!" she shouted.

"Heh, that was nothin'," Ranma grinned. The earth shook, and Ranma's smile disappeared. Aps rolled forward, sat up, and growled.

"No, it was something," Tifa pointed out, "just wasn't enough."

Aps continued lumbering to its feet, staring at the three girls, a menacing sound rumbling from its mouth. After several seconds, Aps let out a deafening roar, pounded its chest with both hands, and began thrashing about, both arms flailing wildly and stomping repeatedly. The tremors from its heavy impacts unsteadied the trio, causing them to stumble as the chainlink flails scored dozens of thick grooves into the brickwork. The horns atop its head began to glow with an increasing intensity, and suddenly there was a distant sound.

"Uh…" Aerith glanced around. "Do either of you hear that?"

Tifa nodded. "Sounds like water… Oh no… _Move!_" she shouted suddenly.

All three scampered up the stepwell at the edge of the canal. The warning came not a moment too soon, as behind them a torrent of dark, slimy liquid began pouring forth from the sewage grate at the end of the tunnel. The deluge of oozing waste filled the whole of the canal and the chamber began to stink of acid eating away at stone and metal alike. Aps leaped up onto the platform, a cruel look on its face, and lumbered forward.

"_Shit_shit_shit_shit_shit_…" Tifa muttered, heaving another Blizzard spell at the creature as she backed away. Aerith followed it up with repeated castings of Fire, which no longer appeared to singe at Aps' damp fur, but still appeared to cause it significant distress.

Ranma's mind raced for a solution, but wasn't liking what she had come up with. "Tifa!" Ranma called out. "I need you to set me on fire!"

"_WHAT?_"

"_Do it!_" Ranma braced herself, and felt the Fire spell strike her. The blow was far more physical than she had anticipated, breaking her stance and pushing her forward a few steps. She grabbed at the energy with her own, the heat and flames engulfing her, trying to focus it, redirect it. "Again!" she demanded.

"Goddess, you must be out of your mind…" Aerith muttered, firing her own spells at Aps to little effect, trying in vain to slow its advance, watching as Tifa cast again. The second blast seemed to hit Ranma harder, but she did not stagger. The pain was intense, the heat suffocating. She shifted her weight, squatting into a low horse stance, and began to move her arms into an attack position.

"_Again!_" The third spell did not hit her at all, but instead swerved off the intended target as if magnetized, slotting neatly into the space between her palms, and hovered there as more energy began to pour into the chi construct. Her breathing was ragged, sweat pouring from her brow, but she knew she had it now. Ranma felt something behind her eyes, a tension just at the edge of her perception, felt it _snap_, and in that moment, she charged.

A bright aura of force and strength seemed to radiate outwards from her body, pushing at the air and illuminating the rancid tunnel. Ranma sprinted forward, hands cupped to one side, her body pushed to the limit and beyond. She leaped up, and the aura seemed to solidify, compacting into her hands as her entire body glowed with power.

"_**M**__**ō**__**ko **__**Takabisha**__** Nensh**__**ō**__**!**_" she screamed, thrusting her hands forward.

The orb of energy that appeared was fully twice as tall as Ranma herself, and as she released the energy, the force seemed to push her backwards, causing her to fall gracelessly down to the platform with a thud. The energy itself did not dissipate, rather accelerated, and the color shifted wildly between yellow, orange, and red, a star in miniature. The orb struck Aps, and did not detonate. Instead it seemed to engulf its body, setting it ablaze, as Aps flailed its limbs, roaring in pain. After several seconds pushing against the creature's body and arms, the attack finally exploded, the force focused directly at Aps' torso.

Which disintegrated in a sudden wash of flame.

A moment later, Aps' lower body fell sideways into the river of muck that flowed past, and vanished beneath the murky tide. After several more moments, the flood of sewage itself receded, and the flow of garbage returned to its normal rate.

Aerith stared at the upper wall and roof of the sewer, the brick and mortar glowing red from the heat that had been released just moments ago, some of the stones audibly cracking as an impromptu glaze melted down over them. She herself held no small amount of power when needed, but never in her life had she seen such a destructive blast come from a single person, without even a shard of materia.

Tifa ran to Ranma, laying prone and spread eagle on the shattered stone platform. She quickly uncorked a Hi-Potion, slid one hand under Ranma's back to lift her to a reclined position and poured it into her mouth. "Drink," she commanded. "It'll heal you, and you _need_ it."

Ranma needed no further instruction, and swallowed without hesitation. "Tifa?" she croaked a moment later.

"Hm?"

"Next time I tell you to set me on fire…" she coughed, turning her head to one side, "...don't."

"Yeah, next time I'll just kick your ass myself, you idiot," Tifa confirmed, patting Ranma across the back. "Never seen a limit break like that."

Ranma looked up at her, the question in her eyes plain.

"Dunno if you've got anything like it in Japan," Tifa began, "but here on Gaia, some people can hit the absolute limit of what a human can do in a fight, and then push past that limit and find something waiting for them on the other side. We call it a 'limit break' and it's usually pretty dangerous for the average person to experience one."

Ranma sat up slowly, still coughing gently. "Why would that be dangerous?"

"Because the _other_ possibility," Tifa explained patiently, quietly reminding herself that the redhead was not used to what Gaians took for granted, "is to reach the absolute limit of human ability, and _not_ surpass it... or, in other words, you die."

"Oh," she replied simply, feeling more than a little foolish for not realizing the obvious.

Tifa smiled softly, standing up again. "It's all right, I'm trying to keep in mind that a lot of stuff we know about might be new to you. But right now, we have to get moving. If Shinra is going to drop the plate, we need to do everything we can to stop them." She pulled another Hi-Potion from the pouch hanging from her belt and handed it to Ranma. "Can you stand?"

Ranma nodded, taking the potion and placing it inside her coat pocket. "Jeez, I wonder if this is what smoked salmon feels like," she mused, standing up slowly and noticing the scent of burnt leather following her as she stepped forward.

Aerith had noticed none of this, her eyes and her mind completely fixed on the rapidly cooling glaze over top the sewer wall. "How..." she trailed off, still trying to wrap her head around it.

"Aerith!"

Aerith's head snapped around in shock, facing Tifa, who had an expression of impatience on her face. "Huh?" she muttered, shaking her head to clear her thoughts.

"Wake up, girl," Tifa called out. "Time to get out of this place."

Aerith nodded, glancing at the damaged wall one more time, before following the others.

-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-

It took nearly an hour of climbing through the tunnels and machinery of the sewer system to reach the surface. The manhole cover slid aside with a metallic grinding sound, and the three girls climbed out in a hurry. "Jeez, never gonna get rid of that smell," Ranma mused.

"Gripe later," Tifa shouted, already moving forward, "gotta get the word out!"

Ranma nodded, reaching down to pull Aerith up out of the sewer. "Where are we?"

Tifa skidded to a halt, glancing around. "Looks like the Sector 7 Train Graveyard," she noted, already looking for a path through the hulking, half-rusted shells of the train cars. "Shinra dumps a lot of old and damaged train cars and engines down here, and leaves them to rust."

Aerith shivered. "I don't come by here very often," she muttered, a worried expression over her face. "There's supposed to be monsters and ghosts here. How far are we from the pillar, Tifa?"

Tifa considered the question, looking up and around, trying to get her bearings. She pointed to a section of the plate which was somewhere behind and above them. "Look, that's the support pillar! Whatever Shinra's doing, they'd have to do it there. If we can get there and keep them off of it, we can keep everybody safe!"

Ranma peered into the distance in the direction Tifa had indicated. "Uh... Tifa... are there always flashing lights on the pillar like that?" she asked, her tone worried.

Tifa blinked, and gazed intently at the pillar, and at the lights flashing near the top, which looked like… "Gunfire," she whispered. "Goddess, no, no, _no!_" And turned, and ran as fast as her legs would move through the nearest open train car.

Ranma and Aerith followed swiftly behind. But somewhere inside each of them, there was a growing feeling that they were all too late.

* * *

**A/N: _LIMIT BREAK UNLOCKED_.**

**There's a lot going on in this chapter, lots of action. First and foremost, I would like to apologize in advance if I have sufficiently mangled the Japanese language with my attempts to come up with a technique name that suited the action. I actually took the time to do a fair bit of research, and I'm _pretty_ sure I've got the right words in the right order.**

**Aps was, to my recollection, a moderately difficult boss, but not nearly as rough as some of the battles after the Sewer. The fight with Reno atop the pillar was literally just him stalling for time, with a technique that could leave your whole party in a prison if you acted slowly, and then there's the whole boss rush going up and back down and out of Shinra Tower. But I'm getting ahead of myself.**

**Ranma's techniques...**

**'Horse Stance': It's called a couple things depending on the style, this name is taken from Hung Gar style martial arts. It's a stance recognizable by the legs forming almost a rectangle with the ground, knees bent and body lowered, body weight centered evenly over the legs. It is a stance designed for relative stability and providing many options for mobility.**

**Mōko Takabisha: Pride of the Fierce Tiger. One of the more advanced techniques adapted into Indiscriminate Grappling, a chi-powered blast of energy, fueled by the user's pride and confidence. Detonates with significant force against whatever it comes in contact with.**

**Mōko Takabisha N****enshō****: Burning Pride of the Fierce Tiger. Ranma's first level 1 limit break. An over-charged, Fire elemental version of the Mōko Takabisha. On impact, it spreads out across the point of contact like a viscous fluid (think magma), until it reaches some limit of the surface tension. Then it explodes like a shotgun blast in the direction of travel.**

**Hope you like it! Feedback and comments welcome!**


	15. Rise, Fall

**Welcome back to another chapter! This chapter is going up a little earlier than it ordinarily would, because I am going to be up super late tonight and then crashing hard because of being at an event tonight, and I am not expecting to be up at a reasonable hour Sunday morning. The story continues to progress and evolve, and I wanted to address a point that had come to my attention. FF7 Remake is coming out in just under two months. I plan to obtain a copy. I plan to play it, and probably to beat the crap out of it. But, it's not going to influence the story. I've got pages of notes at this point, a framework, a solid direction, and a goal. To a certain point, this will follow the original adventure. Past a certain point, this story is going its own way, and will be indistinguishable from a completely new tale. Neither of these arcs will _knowingly_ implement any new elements from the Remake's storyline. If stuff leaks in, it's because I thought of it first (or at least I thought of it before I played the Remake).**

**So, with that addressed, comments!  
Mr. Haziq: It is a pretty _shonen_ thing to pull a move out of one's ass in desperation, and by all rights Ranma is a fairly _shonen_ hero when you look at him the right way. I always felt that, _Hiryu Shoten Ha_ aside, Ranma was a very fire-oriented individual, and a lot of his existing moveset reflects that to some point or another.  
Death of Snipers: Yes. Not saying more yet, though, wait and see. :)  
Mordalfus Grea and doraemax: We'll see. I have more than a few very specific plans for the obvious cat.**

**And on with the show!**

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Chapter Fifteen

Rise, Fall

[ ν ] - εγλ 0007, December 11

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A further thirty minutes of sprinting through the maze of abandoned train cars and fighting through vengeful spirits led them to the south end of the Sector 7 train platform. Aerith and Tifa ran past. Ranma stopped for a few seconds, seeing the conductor standing there, watching the events unfold on the tower. "Get the hell out of here!" she shouted. "Shinra's gonna drop the plate! Move!" and sprinted away before seeing the man's reaction.

Tifa and Aerith were standing in front of the pillar security gate as Ranma caught them up, trying to get the bystanders to flee. The sound of gunfire echoed from above. "I need a favor, Aerith," Tifa said firmly, grasping Aerith by the shoulders. "Remember how to get to the bar?"

Aerith nodded, puzzled, before understanding dawned on her. "The girl?"

Tifa smiled weakly. "Her name's Marlene. Please, find her, get her out of Sector 7, and take her somewhere safe."

Aerith gave a soft smile in response, and turned towards the bar, accelerating into a run. Tifa looked at Ranma, before pulling her hair over her shoulder, checking the red strip of leather coiled around the tail end, making sure it was secured tightly. "I hate to say it, but we can't focus on the civilians right now," she said, dejected. "They'll go or not, we can't save them all. Right now, our best chance to save them is to get up there and stop them from dropping the plate." She turned her gaze upwards. "Are you ready?"

Ranma nodded, but before they could step forward, there was a flash of light from above and a shape falling from high up the tower stairwell. A moment later the shape fell to the ground in front of them with a sickening _thud_ that would remain with Ranma for a long time afterwards.

It was Wedge.

The man's arm was bent at an unnatural angle, and his torso was bloody from what looked to have been a close-range explosion. For fully five seconds, he did not move nor breathe. Then, suddenly, he sucked in a deep breath of air, coughed painfully, and his gaze fell on Ranma. "...came back…" he groaned, a faraway look in his eyes, as his face drew up in a gentle but pained smile. "...knew… you… make it…" And stopped breathing, his body going slack.

Ranma watched the light fade from Wedge's eyes, and felt something inside her break. She felt her eyes watering up with tears, her self-control in shambles, each breath seeming to catch in her throat as fear and anguish battered her from the inside. She couldn't keep them safe. She'd failed to protect him. She'd _failed_. She fell to her knees and felt the dam within her burst, her emotions spilling out, sorrow and anger and despair washing over her.

Tifa looked at her, no less affected by the death of a friend and compatriot, her own eyes welling up slightly. "We need to move," she said quietly, and turned to go.

Ranma's head tilted slightly in Tifa's direction. "What? What do you mean? He's _dead_! How can you... be that... cold?" she blubbered, her tears obscuring her sight.

Tifa turned around, lifted Ranma by her shirt, and slammed her back against the metal column holding the stairwell in place. "Don't," she started angrily, her own eyes streaming. "Don't you _dare_. Don't think for a _second_ that I feel nothing. Don't think I won't mourn for Wedge." She took a deep breath, and slammed her fist against the stairwell column just above Ranma's head. "But our friends are still up there fighting, and if we stand here and do nothing, they'll join him here on the ground, followed by us. Followed by every last person who lives in the slums. Everyone we know up there right now is fighting to save as many lives as they possibly can. And Wedge... fought too. If we give up right now, then Shinra wins. Grieve _later_." She released Ranma, and tugged her studded gloves firmly into place. "Fight _now_."

Ranma took a deep breath, and nodded, refocusing herself. She wiped her tears away, and followed Tifa up the stairs, ready to unleash hell.

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The climb had been difficult. Shinra's troopers crowded along the stairwell up the pillar, guns at the ready. Few of them had ever seen real action, but fewer still were prepared for the two-woman onslaught as Tifa and Ranma ascended. In the close quarters, the standard issue heavy automatics the troopers carried became more of a hindrance than an asset, as the girls rushed each group, wedged themselves in the middle of their formation, and systematically picked them apart from the inside out. A single round had grazed across the top of Ranma's shoulder, but she barely noticed, almost instinctively grasping the materia in her pocket and hitting herself with a Cure spell before they approached the next landing.

As the landing came fully into view, Tifa saw Biggs, sitting with his back to the railing, pistol in hand and slowly raising it as she came into sight. She ran up quickly, kneeling by his side. "Hey, Biggs, it's me, Tifa," she whispered. "It's all right, we'll take it from here."

Biggs turned to face her. "Tifa... Barret's up top... with Cloud," he groaned out. "Had to… watch his back."

"I know, he's bad at keeping his blind side protected." She took out a Potion, but Biggs waved her off.

"Don't bother," he lifted his shirt, indicating the stab wound in his chest. "One of them troopers got me good... but I got him better." He chuckled, and coughed hard for a moment. "You should have seen Cloud... he fights like a demon. Never seen anything like it."

"Yeah, us Nibelheimers are made of tough stuff," she whispered, shoving the bottle into Biggs' free hand. "Take the potion. Keep watching our backs, there may be more coming. We'll try to come back for you when we're finished."

Biggs nodded, knocking back the drink as Ranma came up the stairwell. Tifa motioned to her, and they continued on.

Ranma glanced back, seeing Biggs raise his heavy pistol and sight down the stairwell. "Is he..." Ranma started, trailing off as they climbed.

Tifa shook her head. "I don't know." She looked up, seeing a set of aerial troopers coming in from above, soaring in on what appeared to be handheld helicopter rotors. "We don't have time to worry about that right now. We have to take these guys out, and help Cloud and Barret. That's all that matters right now." The aerial troopers touched down on the first landing above them, and Tifa squared her shoulders. "You still with me?"

Ranma nodded, dropping into a combat stance. "Yeah, let's take these clowns." And they plowed forward again.

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More aerial troopers arrived near the top of the stairwell, and began an organized descent to meet up with the two-woman whirlwind making its way up the tower. The aerial troopers used their reinforced rotor blades as weapons, slashing and stabbing at Ranma and Tifa as they approached. Moving down in rank and file, with heavy melee weapons and almost legionnaire-style reinforcing tactics, the previous tactic of getting into the middle of their formation became significantly more dangerous, and their progress slowed. But it did not stop.

Slowly, carefully, Tifa and Ranma picked the troopers apart, until one overzealous trooper broke ranks and leaped out, slashing one rotor-arm down in a brutal overhead swing. Against most opponents, having had the patterns of fighting against the troopers for the last five minutes ingrained into them and suddenly having a rapid change in tactic might have resulted in confusion and disruption. Unfortunately, the trooper made the mistake of targeting Ranma Saotome, a fighter who thrived on chaos. As the blade descended, she stepped into the empty space just ahead of the blow, grabbing the bottom edge of the rotor blade where it had been smoothed and blunted, and wrenched hard, dislocating the trooper's wrist.

"Tifa, down!" she shouted.

Tifa immediately ducked, and Ranma grabbed the trooper by the wrist and pulled hard, lifting him into the air, before she flung him bodily into the next six troopers ahead of them. Two more came at them, hovering over their fallen comrades and preparing to dive in and swoop through with their active rotors. Ranma waited as the first trooper approached, and saw the man shift his weight, signaling his intent to move. She inhaled sharply, and her arm moved in a blur, striking the man in the torso and the face over a dozen times before the inertia from the blows caused him to reel backwards, falling out of the tower in pain. Tifa grabbed at the other trooper's leg, pulling him off balance, and snapped the shinbone audibly in her bare hands, before pulling the man hard and slamming him ribs first into the tower that formed the central support of the stairwell. Without hesitating, she pulled again, and spun in almost a complete circle, slamming his spine against the pillar on the other side, before releasing him to fall limply to the metal stairwell atop his disabled comrades.

The two women rounded the final set of stairs, and were met by a disheartening sight. Jessie was laying on the topmost landing, slumped against the railing, arms crossed over her chest, with a bloody wound through one side of her neck. It looked like someone had deliberately placed her in that position. Ranma stopped for a brief moment and gave a respectful bow to her. In the center of the main platform beyond them, Cloud and Barret were standing back to back, fighting off a wave of troopers. A helicopter circled around the tower, someone on board taking shots at the two men.

Tifa crossed the platform first, leaping into the fray with a flying split kick that knocked down a pair of the assaulting troopers. Immediately after landing, she charged shoulder first into the nearest standing trooper and plowed two more to the ground. Ranma followed quickly behind, flipping forward into a heel drop that landed on the ribs of one of the fallen troopers, making sure he stayed down. She rolled quickly to her feet and began working her way through the line of soldiers on the opposite side, raining blows down on them. Cloud took advantage of the confusion within the ranks and sprinted forward into the middle of a squad, spinning his blade around himself like a rotor, carving through the men without mercy, before locking blades against a sergeant. Barrett set his gun-arm to full auto and fired controlled bursts into the troopers, picking them off and covering his comrades.

As the numbers of Shinra personnel dwindled rapidly, the gunner on the helicopter switched to an automatic weapon as well, firing with abandon on the four members of AVALANCHE and the men they were fighting. Several more troopers fell to the opening volley. Cloud dashed quickly to Tifa, holding his Buster Sword up to deflect the shots. Barret and Ranma dove for cover behind the pillar, Barret continuing to whittle down the remaining troopers.

Before any of them could react, three figures jumped off of the helicopter and landed on the platform. Ranma recognized all three immediately: Reno and Rude of the Turks, plus the blonde girl she hadn't got a name for. The girl took out a pair of pistols and fired at Cloud, rooting him to the spot as he guarded Tifa. Rude charged forward and barreled into Barret, then turned before Ranma could mount an offense and grabbed her firmly by the arm, spinning rapidly and flinging her bodily into Barret, knocking both of them to the hard metal platform.

Reno moved confidently, almost strolling to the console at the peak of the pillar. He placed his palm against the screen, watching as it shifted from red to green, then pressed the button to one side. "And… done," he called out. "Mission complete, yo!"

The gunfire stopped. Reno gestured to Rude, and he slowly backpedaled, arms still raised in a boxer's stance. The girl closed ranks with them as well. Ranma stood up and glared at the trio, then her gaze went to the computer terminal, glowing green. "What…" she choked out, not wanting to believe it. "What did you do, Reno?"

Reno smirked, running a hand casually through his hair. "We did our job."

Tifa stepped out from behind Cloud. "You idiots!" she shouted angrily. "You're going to kill everyone!"

The blonde stepped forward and leveled her guns at Tifa. "Don't move," she ordered, but Reno waved a hand at her dismissively.

"They can't do anything to stop it, Elena, let them talk if they want," he responded calmly, lowering his arm.

Ranma glared at them. "I spared you," she pleaded, "all of you, and you decide to repay that by doing _this_? What the hell is wrong with you?"

Reno shook his head. "Don't get us wrong, yo," he said, turning his back. "Just… orders."

The helicopter swung back around, and leveled itself with the platform. Barret leveled his arm, preparing to fire at the chopper. "We go down," he shouted, "and you go down with us!"

Elena swiveled one gun to meet Barret. "Wouldn't do that if I were you," she said calmly, tilting her head to one side. A second helicopter rose up behind them, with a small platform extended on one side. A familiar silhouette was sitting on that platform.

"Aerith!" Ranma shouted.

Tseng leaned out of the passenger east of the helicopter, holding a pistol in his free hand and pointing it directly at Aerith's head. "All our bugs in one place," he yelled triumphantly over the sound of the rotor, "ready to be squashed! Anyone moves, and this will get messy!"

Aerith leaned forward quickly, but it was clear she was shackled to the helicopter somehow. "Tifa!" she called out quickly. "Don't worry, she's safe-" Before she could say more, Tseng backhanded her with the hand holding the pistol, leaving a mark on her cheek visible even in the distance.

Cloud slowly slid his blade behind him, clipping it to his back. "Not very professional, Reno," he said just loud enough to be heard.

"Nah," he replied, glancing down briefly, before looking up to meet Cloud's luminescent gaze. "But it got _your_ attention, dinnit?" Rude and Reno stepped into the first helicopter, being covered by Elena, who jumped aboard at the last minute.

"My orders… were to capture the last remaining Ancient," Tseng said aloud, pulling his gun back to his side, leaving the barrel pointed vaguely in Aerith's direction. "And to eliminate AVALANCHE. It's taken a long time, but now I can finally report two successes, in one night. Oh, before I forget… President Shinra sends his regards, AVALANCHE," Tseng announced. "He asks you to enjoy the fireworks." Both helicopters pulled away from the platform. As they vanished into the distance, the sound of an energy buildup began to make itself known, a whine of electric power coursing through the pillar and surrounding area, gradually increasing in pitch.

Barret looked down the edge of the pillar as Tifa ran towards the control panel. "No time to get down that way," he muttered. "Tifa! Can you disarm it?"

Tifa's fingers moved frantically over the keyboard. "Not enough time," she answered, "the console on this thing looks like it only responds to a remote prompt. I can't shut it off. I can't even get into the system from here!" She curled both fists together and smashed the keyboard in frustration.

"Gotta move, then," Cloud insisted, pulling them back to the current situation.

Ranma glanced about. "Where? We can't get down in time and there's nowhere else to run!" But Cloud was already moving towards a support cable connected to the platform at an oblique angle. He grabbed the cable firmly, and drew his sword, severing the connection to the platform in a single, clean stroke. "You want to get down on _that_?" she yelled in incredulity.

"It's fly or die time," he responded, his tone serious. "And I'd rather go down _swinging_, if you get me."

Barret nodded, grabbing the cable firmly as Cloud passed it to him, wrapping it once around his gun-arm, and sliding the trailing edge of the cable around his foot in a climber's loop. "Everyone on board! Right NOW!"

No further arguments were needed. Tifa climbed into Barret's lap facing outward, and Ranma slid in facing Tifa, wrapping her arms around the both of them as best she could. Cloud clambered awkwardly onto Barret's shoulders, grabbing the cable above them. As the primary charges began to blow beneath them, Barret hopped off the railing, angling his descent slightly for the cleanest swing he could manage. The secondary charges blew above their heads, taking out the support pillar at the ceiling, and the rest of the pillar began to crumble even as additional explosions began to go off.

There was a brief, shuddering drop, as the plate above fell to the point of tension on the various power cables and sewage pipes running between the plate segments. For one moment, it appeared that it might stop there. But the infrastructure was not designed to support the weight of the plate on their own. A groan of metal fatigue, the sounds of pipes and cables being pushed to the breaking point, and then beyond that point.

The plate went into freefall. For a long moment, the only sounds that could be heard were the collective screams of thousands of civilians, above and below the plate, as the structure fell over three hundred feet, crashing into the ground with a _whoosh_ of displaced air, followed immediately by the utterly final slam of millions of tons of steel and concrete collapsing into the ground, taking with it the lives and livelihoods of every person within its reach.

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The bottom end of the swing had the four passengers moving at well over any kind of safe speed, but such methods of travel rarely include brakes. Barret released the cable just past the fulcrum point, and all four passengers skidded and bounced across the uneven dirt and pavement.

Moments later, a cloud of dust and smoke erupted from the falling plate behind them, followed by a deafening crash. Cloud skittered rapidly to cover Tifa, and Barret rolled to protect Ranma. Scrap and shrapnel fell from above, and the dust blew in sideways, tearing at them like a sandstorm. A massive steel girder, spinning end over end, flew in from somewhere out of sight and impaled a playground slide less than five meters from Tifa's head.

After what felt like forever, the sound and vibrations faded. The dust and dirt settled, and the group slowly came to their feet. Their surroundings were pockmarked with the scars and trails of debris that had flown past and embedded deep into the surface. The gate into Sector 7 stood, a testament to its original engineers and the durability of its construction. Beyond that gate lay a solid wall of crushed and compacted steel, smoldering wood and ash, and miles of concrete and asphalt now shattered into pebbles. Nothing could have survived such a fall, above or below.

Barret staggered forward, his grief palpable as he stared, unblinking and disbelieving, at the wreckage of his former home. Tears streamed down his face, as his rage and despair boiled up through his body and out his mouth in a single, soul-wrenching cry.

"_**MAAAAARRRRRLLLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENNNEE!**_"

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**A/N: Twenty years on, and this scene still hits me just as hard as that first day I sat down and started playing it.**

**The original version of this chapter started with Ranma basically going berserkergang on truly witnessing death for the first time (Wedge), mad with grief and rampaging brutally on every Shinra trooper covering the stairwell. That version was a thousand words in, before I realized I was going to be writing Ranma as suffering from severe PTSD for the rest of the story if I committed to that. While that's an important thing to be aware of in reality, the chapter was slogging as a result of the push through the incoherent rage, and I realized the story overall would become... very difficult. So I scrapped that version, and rewrote it here. The grief is still here, and will continue to be present, but we're going to skip over minimizing actual legitimate trauma within the fanfic.**

**As things stand, this chapter was intensely difficult to write and to edit. I feel I'm getting a little better at fight scenes as I go, but it's still hard work for me to visualize a good fight and then describe it in words in a way that isn't... well, boring. Still, progress is progress. Aside from that... the scale of destruction in this final scene was difficult for me when I played the game, and is no less difficult now. It's pretty hard stuff.**

**This chapter title, and the following two, contain a music reference. Bonus points if you spot it.**

**Hope you like it! Comments and feedback welcome!**


	16. Down

**Another week, another chapter! I admit, I wasn't prepared for the deluge of comments regarding the destruction of Sector 7. Like I said, the fic will follow the main plot to a point, and for me, it didn't make sense to alter or stop the pillar drop sequence. Moreover, because the system is almost entirely remote-controlled, once Shinra made the decision to drop the plate on them, there wasn't a lot that AVALANCHE could do to stop it. Ranma's still getting his feet in this fight (the one against Shinra) on a specific point; nobody he's fought in his world fights for stakes this high. He's strong, but he comes from a world where one of the most common problems he personally has had to deal with is how many people want to date/marry him (or her, or Akane). At no prior point has the fate of an entire city rested on his decision-making or his ability to fight.**

**Also, as a reminder, this is going to be following FF7's main plot to a point. There will be changes, but some of them are going to be subtle, and some of the threads for those changes have already been placed, and as a consequence, some 'fixed points in history' are going to remain. Others won't. I honestly hope that the quality of my writing can at least serve in the meantime.**

**All right, enough for now, let's move on with the story.**

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Chapter Sixteen

Down

[ ν ] - εγλ 0007, December 12

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Cloud and Tifa stood slowly, looking up at the unparalleled destruction. Ranma sat in the dirt, sobbing inarticulately in great heaving breaths, her adrenaline spent. Barret howled in rage and unloaded an entire belt of ammunition into the wreckage. As the spent shells tumbled to the ground behind him, he stepped forward and punched the scraps blocking his path.

"Biggs!" he screamed, slamming the barrels of his gun-arm against the glowing iron. "Wedge!" Another bare fisted smash against a shared of concrete, cutting his knuckles. "Jessie!" He raised the gun-arm and struck downwards, the stock slamming into the same piece of red-hot iron so hard it visibly dented. "Everyone…" he fell to his knees, faces and names of the inhabitants of Sector 7 passing through his mind. "Goddamnit! Damnit, Shinra! Damn all of you! The hell was it all for?" Lost in despair and anger, he resumed beating both arms against the rubble.

Tifa ran up to Barret, pulling at his good arm. "Stop it!" she cried, her own tears welling up. "Barret, stop… please…"

Barret knelt down on all fours and wept.

Tifa leaned over and rested her head on his shoulder, her tears flowing as well.

Ranma grasped her knees and curled into a ball, giving herself over to the despair and sorrow she felt, the dam bursting as she began to cry in earnest.

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"Marlene…"

It had been nearly a half hour. It had taken a long time for their immediate grief to play out. Tifa started suddenly, remembering Aerith's words atop the pillar.

"Barret…" Tifa said slowly, barely daring to hope herself. She remembered Aerith's words at the top of the pillar, words she had risked her life to make sure Tifa had heard. "Marlene is… I think… Marlene is safe…"

It took a long moment for Barret's mind to process this. "Huh? She's… what? What do ya mean?"

"Right before… Before the fight, I asked her to get Marlene and take her out of Sector 7... in case we couldn't..." she inhaled sharply, trying to collect herself, centering her emotions. "When they took Aerith, she called out to us… 'don't worry, she's safe'. She had to be talking about Marlene."

Barret stood up, his expression almost glowing for a moment. "R-really?" he stammered weakly, turning to face Tifa.

Tifa nodded, a soft smile gracing her face. Ranma rolled over and sat up. "But… the others…"

Barret's face froze, his anger returning, but not fully extinguishing his joy. "Biggs… Wedge… Jessie… they…"

"All three of them were on the pillar when it came down," Cloud said quietly, looking away.

"An' you think I don't know that?" Barret turned to face the rubble. "But they… we… _all of us_, we fought Shinra together. I don't wanna think of them as just dead!"

"And all the others in Sector 7…" Ranma curled her legs close and wrapped her arms around her knees again, burying her head in her arms.

"This is all so screwed up!" Barret stood up sharply, gesturing with his arms as he spoke. "They destroyed an entire town of ordinary people, just to get to us! They killed so many… to make sure… they destroyed AVALANCHE."

Tifa's eyes followed him. "Are you saying…" she trailed off, voice choked with emotion, "...are you saying it's our fault? Because AVALANCHE was here? Innocent people lost their lives _because of us_?"

Barret whirled on those words, fire in his eyes. "No! Tifa, that ain't it! Hell no!" He strode forward, gripped her shoulder firmly with his good hand and pointed with his gun at the central pillar. "It ain't us! It's _Shinra_! Never been _nobody_ but _goddamn_ Shinra! They're standing up there in their goddamn tower, destroyin' the whole planet and killin' anyone who tries to stand up to them. And all just to build up even more power and line their own damn pockets with gil!"

Barret turned and faced up at the pillar, the peak of Shinra Tower just visible over the still-incomplete plate of Sector 6. "If we don't get rid of 'em," he continued, "they're gonna kill this planet and everyone on it! Our fight ain't ever gonna be over, 'til we get rid of all of them!"

"...I don't know anymore," Tifa muttered, crestfallen, hands folded together.

"Whaddya mean, ya don't know?" Barret demanded, turning to face her again. "You don't believe me?"

Tifa shook her head. "It's not that. I'm not sure about… me... anymore," she unclasped her hands and held one fist to her chest. "About my feelings."

Barret turned to look at Ranma, still sitting dejected in the dirt. "An' what about you?" he said. "Or you?" he turned to Cloud, pointing with one finger, staring the mercenary down.

Ranma stood up, and turned away without saying a word. She started walking away from the wreckage of Sector 7. As she passed Cloud, she stopped for a moment, turned her head slightly, and said something audible only to him, and continued walking. Cloud's gaze followed her, before briefly turning to face Barret and Tifa. His gaze dropped, and he turned to follow Ranma.

"...the hell?" Barret watched the two of them go. "Where they think they goin'?"

Tifa rolled back the conversation in her head. "Oh! Aerith!"

Barret shook his head. "Damn, almost forgot about her. But why the hell they goin' that way?"

"Ranma might be the only one who knows where she took Marlene," Tifa said. "I asked Aerith to take herself somewhere safe. They've spent the last two weeks together. If anyone would know where that would be, it'd be Ranma."

"Damn! Right, Marlene!" Barret rubbed his forehead, trying to straighten his thoughts, then shook his head and started running after them. He stopped after a few steps and looked over his shoulder at the ruins one more time. "Tifa… There ain't no gettin' offa this train now. Not after this." And turned forward again, jogging after Ranma and Cloud. Tifa glanced back at the remains of Sector 7, and realized how right he was. Offering a last prayer to those who fell, she started running after the others.

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_Ninety seconds ago…_

Ranma stood up, and turned away without saying a word. She started walking away from the wreckage of Sector 7. As she passed Cloud, she stopped for a moment. "I need to tell Aerith's mother what happened," she said in a flat monotone, and continued walking.

Cloud nodded, then realized that meant walking back through one of the rougher parts of the slums alone. He glanced over his shoulder at Ranma, then turned back to look at Barret and Tifa. Realizing she was in good hands for the moment, Cloud turned away and jogged after Ranma.

"Don't hafta follow me, you know," Ranma muttered.

"Yeah, I kinda do," Cloud replied. "I dragged you both into this mess. It's my responsibility to make it right."

"Ha, don't kid yourself," Ranma countered, digging her hands into her coat pockets. "Aerith has been tied up in this for a decade or more. I got on the Turks' radar on day two of being here. The only thing you showin' up did was bring it to a head sooner, rather than later." She glanced downward. "Thanks, though. Gonna need help getting her back. An' turnin' Shinra into a pretzel."

Cloud nodded. "Won't be easy. Won't even be easy getting up to the plate." He glanced backward, seeing Barret jogging to catch up, Tifa not far behind. "Looks like we'll have help, though."

"Cloud! Ranma!" Tifa called out as they approached.

Ranma stopped walking, and turned back to face the two. "Please," Barret implored, facing Ranma and looking her dead in the eyes. "Take me to Marlene!"

Tifa stood in front of Cloud. "You two are going to help Aerith, aren't you?" she asked.

"Yeah," Cloud responded, his gaze dropping to one side, "but before that, there's something I want to know… about the Ancients... " he trailed off, raising a hand to his forehead, swaying as if about to fall over. "...Sephiroth…?" he whispered, uneasy.

"Are you all right?" Tifa demanded, grabbing him by the arms to steady him, as Ranma and Barret both looked on in concern.

After a moment of uncertainty, Cloud stood back up. "I'll be fine," he answered. "Let's go."

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"...flowers?" Barret wondered aloud, glancing about. "Didn't know anythin' like that could grow down here."

Ranma nodded. "She grows 'em, she sells 'em." _And I think I'm about to find out how._ She stepped forward, quietly opened the front door, and stepped inside. "Elmyra?" she called out softly.

Elmyra was sitting on the stairwell, illuminated by candlelight, head tilted against the stairwell banister. "Ranma." Her tone was gentle, motherly, and welcoming. "Come here, dear, you look awful." Ranma nodded, but did not approach. Instead she shuffled to the side, leaving the door open. Cloud stepped inside first, followed by Tifa and Barret. Elmyra looked them over, noticing that no more were coming, as Barret politely closed the door behind him. Her gaze softened. "Cloud, wasn't it?" she asked, and as she turned the light from the candles reflected off of the tracks of her tears on her cheeks. She took a moment and dabbed her face clear with her apron. "It's about Aerith, isn't it?"

Cloud's head hung forward, unable to meet Elmyra's eyes. "I'm sorry," he answered. "Shinra took her."

"I know." She stood up and moved to the kitchen, turning on the dim lights in the dining room. "They took her from here. It was… it's what she wanted."

Ranma removed her shoes, and sat down at the table. "Elmyra… I think I need to know. Why is Shinra after Aerith?" The others circled around the table, taking seats and trying to look as if they somehow belonged. Except for Cloud, who remained standing, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest.

Elmyra pulled her apron off and hung it up in its familiar spot on the rack near the kitchen. She set a pot of water to boil in the kitchen, then sat down in the chair closest to the kitchen walkway. "Aerith… she's an Ancient," she answered after a moment of quiet. "She says she's the last survivor."

Nearly everyone started at that. A chorus of 'what' in various tones came out of the visitors. "But you're her mother," Ranma blurted out, confused. "So you'd hafta be an Ancient too, right? Why ain't they after you?"

Elmyra shook her head. "I'm not her real mother. Goddess, it was fifteen years ago now…" she began, her eyes glassy with recollection. "Back during the war, my husband, Henri, was sent off to the front. Some 'distant, far away land' he called it. It was Wutai, of course, but he had a way with melodrama. One day, I'd gotten a letter saying that he was coming home on leave, so I started going to the train station every day, hoping to see him."

She sighed, the memories difficult for her. "He never came back. I always wondered if something happened to him, or if it was just that his leave was cancelled and the next letter never arrived saying so. I still went to the station every day, for over a month. One day, though, someone else was there. Two someones, in fact… a woman and her daughter, on the station platform. The woman was wounded, badly, bleeding out… even if I'd known then what to do, she was on death's door. She looked at me, the way any mother looks when their child is in trouble, and asked me to take her daughter, Aerith, somewhere safe. And then… she died. Right there on the platform in front of us.

"It was the kind of thing that happened a lot during the war," she explained, wiping away a fresh set of tears. "Henri never did come back. I had no children of my own. I was lonely, and I knew what happened to little girls left alone in the slums. So I took her home with me, and I raised her. Aerith and I grew close very quickly… I guess she understood that I was standing in for her mother. And she talked about everything back then. She'd told me that she and her mother, Ifalna-" Ranma sat bolt upright at the name, but said nothing, "-had escaped from some kind of research lab somewhere. And that her mother had already returned to the planet, so she wasn't lonely anymore…"

Tifa looked astonished at that. "Do you know what she meant by that? 'Returned to the planet,' I mean."

Elmyra shook her head, then noticed the water had reached boiling. She stood up and started a cup of tea for herself. "I didn't know then… I'm still not sure now, either. I asked her if she meant a star in the sky, but she said no, that it was this planet, Gaia… she was an odd child, mysterious in so many things, but always polite and well-behaved, so I thought it was just her way of being herself. One day, I remember she came down the stairs and just blurted out to me 'please don't cry.' I didn't have the foggiest idea what would cause her to say something like that. I asked her if something had happened to her, but she just shook her head at me."

Elmyra shifted in the chair, leaning back slightly, her gaze moving to the ceiling. "Aerith told me that someone dear to me had just died. That his spirit had been trying to come to see me, but he had returned to the planet. I didn't believe her at first… why would I, it was just a thing that children said or did as they played their little games. But two days later, I got a letter… saying that Henri had been killed in the line of duty. And…" She shook her head, taking a deep breath to recenter herself. "Things went on like normal… for a long time after that. Until Shinra showed up at our doorstep."

The mood around the table darkened considerably. "Shinra…" Barret growled angrily, rising from the table. "Everything they got, and they wanna take a girl from her family…"

Elmyra nodded, and waited for Barret to calm down enough to return to his chair. "Tseng knocked on our door that first time, it was about five years ago. Crisp suit, tie, gloves, the whole image looked about two shades up from 'con-man trying to sell Zolom oil'. He asked me to return Aerith to them, and said that her real mother was an Ancient. Of course I heard him say it, I was standing right there. I never forgot it, but I didn't say anything about it either. Tseng said that the Ancients would lead everyone in the slums and the rest of the world to a land of happiness." She turned and reared slightly as if to spit but, possibly remembering her company, decided not to do so. "It was the same song-and-dance they fed young boys to get them to enlist in SOLDIER, just with different words. 'Chosen One', Ancient, save everyone from disappointment, so on and so on. She did her best to hide it. And I did my best to pretend I didn't notice it. But… even if she isn't really my daughter, I'm definitely her mother." She took a sip from her tea. "Even if we hadn't lived for fifteen years in this tiny little house, there are some things that no child can hide from their mother. I knew she had powers… something. But she kept that to herself, and I let her, because I didn't want her to think that she _needed_ to hide it from me."

"Waitwaitwait," Ranma hastily interrupted, waving her hands. "Tseng knew where Aerith lived the whole time? For five years? Why wait until now to take her? It's not like they hadn't tried over the last two weeks enough times."

"Because," Elmyra began, taking another sip of her tea, "for whatever reason, up until now, Tseng wanted Aerith to _volunteer_ to go back to being a lab rat. At least... that's what I think he wanted. Honestly, I don't know. I guess something changed, since they kept trying to take her the last few weeks. And tonight, when Aerith came back here carrying a little girl, Tseng was waiting here for her. He and his little band of murderers grabbed me, tied me up, and used me as bait. Aerith, goddess bless her strength, actually outsmarted them. I don't know exactly what she did, I was on the floor and the table was in the way, but she told Tseng that if she let me up, and let the girl alone, she'd leave with them willingly."

Cloud nodded at that. "Must be Marlene," he commented.

"Marlene!" Barret leaped to his feet, the chair clattering to the floor behind him. "Aerith was caught because of Marlene?" He remembered himself and where he was, and righted the chair with an embarrassed look on his face. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Marlene's my daughter… I'm so sorry this happened…" he began stammering as he shuffled carefully past Tifa around to Elmyra.

Elmyra, in turn, stood up sharply and swatted Barret a scolding blow across the back of the head. There was almost no force behind it, but Barret bowed his head, suitably chastised. "How could you do that to your own daughter? How could you leave her alone in a place like this?"

"Please don't start in with that," Barret pleaded, his eyes misted over. "I think about it all the time… can't _not_ think about it. What would happen to Marlene if I… if… " He glanced down, and slammed his eyes shut against his tears. "But you gotta understand somethin'. I don't got an answer for any o' that. I wanna be with Marlene. I wanna be the father she needs, I wanna sit there and watch her grow up and all that. But I gotta fight. Cuz if I don't, the planet's gonna die. There won't be anywhere for her to grow up in! And even then, I still worry about Marlene… I just wanna be there for her and…"

Barret looked up, suddenly aware of the silence around him. Tifa's understanding smile, Ranma trying vainly to hide her own tears. Even Cloud, standing silently against the wall, nodded his comprehension. Elmyra looked up at him, a soft smile dawning on her own face. "Guess I'm jus' goin' in circles now…" he trailed off, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassed silence.

Elmyra smiled again, and pulled Barret into a long, welcoming embrace. "I think I understand what you're saying, dear," she whispered. "Marlene is upstairs, asleep. Why don't you go and see her?"

Barret withdrew from the hug, smiled, turned to shuffle past Tifa in the opposite direction, turned back to Elmyra, bowed awkwardly, and finally began moving up the stairwell. The silence was broken by Barret's footsteps on the squeaky stairs, followed by the opening of a door. Several moments later, there was a gleeful squeal of "Daddy!" from upstairs, and even Cloud's jaded demeanor could not withstand something that wholesome, smiling in earnest despite himself.

Ranma carefully scooted herself out of her chair, and practically ran the four steps between herself and Elmyra, embracing her as her own tears began to fall again. "I'm so sorry, Elmyra," she whimpered. "I couldn't keep her safe…"

"Oh, hush, Ranma," Elmyra said, but wrapped her arms around the girl regardless. "Aerith did what she did by her own decision. I daresay she was more courageous tonight than she might have been if you two had never met. This is not. Your. Fault," she admonished gently, stressing each word even as she pulled the loose fabric of her dress up to wipe away Ranma's tears.

Tifa leaned on one arm, fatigue clearly beginning to take a toll. "We'll get her back," she said confidently, trying to hide her exhaustion. "We're going to put a stop to it."

Elmyra didn't miss the signs from Tifa or Ranma. "How long has it been since any of you slept?" she demanded. "Or ate?"

Tifa looked up at the clock above the kitchen entry, noting that it read as nearly four in the morning. Having opened up the bar the previous day, then gone to Wall Market to help shop outfits for Ranma, then everything after that... "Uh…" she smiled sheepishly. "That clock can't be right…"

That told Elmyra all she needed to hear. She stood up, the full force of her matronly will standing with her. "All three of you, right now. Go into the village and meet up with Liam over at the inn. Give him my name, he'll put you up for the night- the morning- whatever, Minerva grant me strength, it's far too late for this shit. Barret and Marlene can stay here the night, I wouldn't dream of separating them. Come back when you've had some rest, and you can figure out what you're doing from there."

All three nodded, and obediently marched out the house and down the road. And for one short, blessed night, nothing more happened.

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The morning went by. Ranma, Tifa, and Cloud slept almost until noon, being well past exhausted. As they woke, they bathed (reverting Ranma to his male form, much to innkeeper Liam's confusion) and headed over to the Gainsborough household; Ranma took a brief detour to obtain a piece of simple body armor that he fitted beneath his trademark red tunic, as well as a basic iron bracer and a Fire, Ice, and Lightning materia set in case they became needed. Marlene, surprising nobody who knew anything at all about four year old children, was already awake. Barret was as well, though at the moment he did not look it. Sitting upright in one of the dining room chairs, arms limp by his side, head tilted back and slack-jawed. However, after taking a look at Marlene, playing at being some kind of ferocious animal, it was obvious that despite the toll the last day and a half had taken on them all, Barret's current state of exhaustion was feigned, at least in part.

Elmyra had foregone tea, opting instead to brew a pot of strong coffee, and was finishing up in the kitchen with two platters of basic but hearty breakfast. "You three are just in time," she said, sliding the first platter heaped to bursting with hash browned potatoes, "to save poor Barret here from the terrible predations of a baby Moomba." She pushed the second platter into place, loaded with eggs and sausage. "In the meantime, you'd better eat. There is no way on Gaia that any of you are going to try to rescue my daughter on an empty stomach."

None of the team needed further prompting. Barret picked up Marlene and held her in his lap as they ate. "Thank 'ou, 'Myra!" Marlene said cheerfully. And aside from the occasional praises for the food, the rest of the meal followed in peace.

Following the meal, Barret took Elmyra aside and asked her to watch over Marlene for a while. He also gave her a sizable portion of the gil they'd managed to scrape together to ensure that they'd both be well taken care of in case he was unable to return.

"So…" Cloud began. "We have to get up there. Who's got ideas?"

"Can't do the trains again," Tifa noted, remembering the disastrous Sector 5 run. "Even if it wasn't running the risk of getting caught by their ID checkpoints, Sector 7 and Sector 4 are the only ones that run surface-to-plate trains. They'll be sure to have security watching the Sector 4 station."

"Could we climb up?" Ranma suggested. When he saw the faces of the others looking at him incredulously, he thought about the question for a moment. "Yeah, I know you can't normally, kinda the point of the plate. But the… drop…" he tested the word as he spoke, deciding it worked for now, "probably jarred things loose. We could try climbing up from Wall Market, the plate's been under construction there for years, right? If there's nothing there we can start from, we can try climbing up from the…" he swallowed, as the words continued to stick in his throat, "...from where Sector 7 used to be."

Tifa glanced between Cloud and Barret, and even as they considered the idea, it was clear they did not understand Ranma's distress. "Ranma, are you going to be okay?"

"Do I have a choice?" he grumbled, eyes turned away.

"Yes. You do." Tifa's words hit him hard. He winced and covered his face with both hands.

"Hey, what's with you, anyway?" Cloud asked bluntly, sipping at his coffee. Tifa smacked him in the back of the head, causing some of the coffee to spill out and scald his hand. "Ow! What was that for?"

Tifa groaned and shook her head. "You insensitive idiot," she muttered. Shifting to a more neutral tone, "Ranma… last night, when Wedge…" the too-fresh pain causing her to knot up as well, "when Wedge fell from the pillar. Was that your first time, seeing someone die?"

There was utter silence at the table at those words. Cloud and Barret both turned to face Ranma, whose hands had dropped to his lap and squeezed uselessly into fists, arms stiff as his body shuddered quietly. "…yes…" he whispered, but the sound carried, heavy with his despair. He stood up, pushed his chair in, and walked outside.

"Oh," Cloud muttered, realizing his mistake. "Tifa, I didn't-"

"Not now, Cloud." Tifa got up to look out the window, watching as Ranma went through a _kata_. "Climbing sounds good to me, if we find a way up. If either of you have other ideas, talk about them." She stepped outside and watched in silence as Ranma performed his practice routine.

Even emotionally distressed as he was, Tifa realized that she was in the presence of a consummate martial artist. Every motion, every step, every blow was practiced and economical, without wasted movement or flashy posturing. She could almost see the strikes landing against the invisible attackers. "How do you do it, Ranma?" she called out as he finished a first set, moving into a second _kata_. "How do you keep that level of focus on your _kata_, with everything else that's going on?"

Ranma huffed in disappointment. "This is the only thing keepin' me sane right now," he answered quietly, continuing through his motions, a swift forward snap-kick shifting him into another stance. "I wasn't much good at anything else, but I was always good at this. I never wanted to be a scholar, or a scientist, or a rock star, or Premier of Japan, or whatever else kids say they wanna be when they grow up. I always knew this was my path. Leaves a few blind spots, though." And he threw a punch at the empty air, meeting nothing.

"Why, though? From what little you've said, this world you come from is… peaceful, by our standards anyway. You don't have monsters in your world, you barely have wild animals, the entire country is tamed and according to you, the biggest danger your capital city seems to hold is an insane, overbearing high school principal. You can travel anywhere in the world at almost any time. Why would _anyone _in your world ever _need _to learn to fight _at all_?"

Ranma stood there, looking at her, at her bewilderment and her misunderstanding, at a fellow martial artist who had not had the option to learn for the sake of the art or for self improvement, but out of necessity, for survival. In that moment, he understood the vast yawning gulf between his world and theirs. "We've got our own kinds of monsters," he answered quietly. After a moment of contemplation, he shook his head. "Assholes that dress up like normal, respectable humans, and take advantage of anything and anyone they can. That's not why I do it, though. You're right… side by side, my world is heaven compared to this. There are people who fight to upend that peace, and more who fight to keep it. There are people who fight for glory or fame, for love, for… whatever. People _fight_. It's what people do. For me, it's… self improvement. Finding myself in the art. Learning more about myself. Becoming better." He let out a sigh. "Right now, though, I don't feel 'better.' But I know how to fix that."

"Go and kick Shinra's ass?" Tifa offered, taking a step forward.

Ranma smirked. "That'll be the long-term solution, but I need to do something else right now." He took a deep breath, and tugged on nearly every memory of the last twelve hours. Wedge, Biggs, and Jessie, dead or dying on the tower. Reno's face at the tower platform as he activated the destruct sequence. Tseng, holding Aerith hostage and smacking her in the face with the butt of the pistol. The sound of thousands of people screaming in terror as the plate collapsed. He held each of those memories, gripped tightly in his psyche, as his body dropped into a horse stance. His arms moved into position, fingers clawed, wrists together, locked in front of him like the jaws of a lion. Elmyra sitting alone in the darkness without her daughter.

He pushed his hands forward. "_Shishi H__ō__k__ō__dan!_" he howled into the empty air. A ball of bright red energy pushed outward from his hands, flying into the distant sky. Tifa's gaze followed the blast as it flew away, beyond the vanishing point in mere seconds.

"What…" Tifa uttered, before words failed her.

Ranma stood up, and smiled gently, even the faint emotion feeling genuine, warming. "That was the _Shishi H__ō__k__ō__dan_, a technique developed by miners in my world. It does two things: Clears away the rubble and wreckage of a cave-in, and burns away the despair and fear that a trapped miner would feel. It's fueled by anger and despair. Using the ability _consumes _those emotions. They can come back later, but the point is you're not feeling them now. Which means you can focus on survival and escape. I learned it from Ryoga a couple months back. Kami knows where he was when he learned it."

"You… wait… you can use Lifestream energy?"

Ranma nodded. "My world calls it chi, but I had a similar talk with Aerith while I was teachin' her some basics. They're the same thing, far as I can tell."

"And you've been doing this for how long?"

Ranma considered the question. "Well, I'm seventeen. I've been training actively since I was like two, but I only really got into it when I was about four or five. I knew _about _chi techniques when I was ten, but I didn't learn my first one until I was thirteen, I think…"

Tifa blinked, her mind struggling to wrap itself around the significance of those statements as Ranma prattled on. Ranma was by no means a master of the art, and he'd be the first to say so, his own pride be damned. But Zangan had been training for decades before trying to take her on as a student. Ranma wasn't even twenty, and had already taken on Aerith as a pupil in addition to everything else he was doing. A cornucopia of martial arts knowledge in front of her, someone who she was realizing as he continued rolling off information might know dozens, possibly _hundreds_ of different styles from another world entirely. Not even Zangan could claim that much knowledge.

"Ranma?" she interrupted him. "I… don't know how to ask this, so I'll just say it. If it's not too much trouble, I want you to help me become better at martial arts."

Ranma paused. Turned. Faced Tifa. Saw her absolutely serious expression. And sighed, his head dropping down a bit. "Kami, not another one..." he muttered to himself. He lifted his head again. "You want to learn from me, fine. After we rescue Aerith, then, I'll start showing you some stuff." Tifa nodded, and both began moving back toward the house. "I have one condition, though," he said after a moment.

"Huh?" Tifa turned back to face him. "What's that?"

"I know what I'm about ta say is going to sound insane, probably a little rude, and is going to be even stranger out of context like this, but no matter what else happens…" Ranma took a deep breath. "Please do not attempt to become my fiance, under any circumstances."

Tifa felt something shift in her world as he said that. She felt light-headed, almost giddy. She felt a small wellspring of something inside her that, after last night, she hadn't thought she'd experience again for a long time. She laughed. And kept laughing, for a long time after that.

* * *

**A/N: This is the longest chapter to date. ****This chapter is specifically written to let the characters grieve, deal with their emotions, and plan out their actions to come. A lot of the dialogue is inspired by the actual game text here, because I felt that the words and the emotions from those scenes were important, and the gravitas deserved its moment. I did my best to clarify some of the more confusing parts of the original plot here, like why Tseng knew where Aerith was for five years but never did anything about it then.**

**Cloud is still, unfortunately, at the "unthinking idiot" phase of his character development. He's a merc, jaded and believes his emotions are untouchable. Also, he's been in a lot of fights, many of them to the death, way before getting to this point, and doesn't yet fully grasp Ranma's world as being without the pervasiveness of fight-or-perish living. Hence his pretty stupid line prompting Ranma to step outside.**

**Within my mind, at the point that the game occurs, there are not a great deal of dedicated martial artists left in the world. A fist-fighter can theoretically manage against a swordsman, even if he is at a disadvantage. A fist-fighter can't do a lot against guns over a sufficient distance. Zangan (Tifa's mentor during her childhood) is probably considered to be a relic, a dying breed. Talented, but not what one would call practical in the current era. The same is true in Ranma's world, but since there is a much greater relative level of peace within civilization, martial arts are still viable for other things.**

**Ranma's techniques...**

**Shishi Hōkōdan: Lion's Roaring Blast. As described above, the technique was developed by miners. It is directly powered by anger and despair, and as a result becomes more powerful based on the level of despair the user is currently experiencing; in exchange, it then consumes those emotions, leaving the user mostly at a neutral or positive emotional state. Unlike the Moko Takabisha, it doesn't 'detonate', it just pushes (because _exploding_ a cave-in would probably lead to another cave-in). It's an effective therapeutic tool, in that respect. In combat, it's actually mostly useless unless you're certain that you can take your opponent out with one blast, or just have a hell of a lot of despair to take a second shot with.**

**Hope you like it! Comments and feedback welcome!**


	17. Rise Again

**Happy Sunday! Stuff abound, and let's get into it. I've been dealing with post holiday illnesses, and it hasn't been fun. I managed to get this chapter edited to my satisfaction, between bouts of being unpleasantly sick. It isn't perfect, and I may go back later to revise it, but it will carry for now.**

**Comments!  
Mr. Haziq: This Ranma has encountered Saffron. I'm waiting for the right point to elaborate on that.  
doraemax: Yeah, Ryoga with the Shi Shi Hokodan is terrifying. Ranma's pride gets in the way of that technique most days, so it's a less effective combat tool for him specifically. That said, I'm of the opinion that Ranma could use it effectively to dispel emotions getting in the way of his pride or confidence, which is a strong source for many of his other abilities.  
Anon: I'm deliberately drawing more from the manga than the anime, partly to avoid a lot of the inconsistencies the anime introduced, and partly because the anime story ended way before the manga's story conclusion. I don't specifically recall if the Shi Shi Hokodan is canonically 'color depends on user'. However, for my purposes, chi techniques that draw on emotion are colored based on the emotion, not the user.**

* * *

Chapter Seventeen

Rise Again

[ ν ] - εγλ 0007, December 12

* * *

It was nearly sundown by the time the four of them had arrived at Wall Market. There was, unsurprisingly, a great deal of commotion, as in addition to the normal ebb and flow of the marketplace, there was also an influx of the few people who had managed to flee Sector 7 before the plate collapsed. While Ranma recognized a few faces, he knew he had to focus, and tugged his hat low over his eyes as they passed quietly through the crowds.

As they approached the north end of Wall Market, they noticed several Shinra troopers congregated around the entrance of the Corneo mansion. All four immediately ducked into the next side street. Peeking out from behind the weaponry store, Tifa noticed that while the troopers were all armed, they appeared to currently be off alert and were just standing about, talking to each other. "Looks like they figured out he talked," Tifa mused. "Wonder what they'll do to him."

"He wasn't there," Ranma said quietly. When the others looked at him inquiringly, he gestured to his eyes. "I can read lips, a bit. The guy on the left is talking about how the little shit ran for it right before the plate dropped, left the city out of the Sector 6 Gate, and they don't know where he is now."

Tifa facepalmed, and the others groaned. "So what are they doing there?" Tifa asked.

"Mopping up his lackeys, raiding his vault for gil, and trying to find some data they think he had." Tifa giggled at the last bit. "...what?"

Tifa pointed to the Bolt materia on her wrist. "When we were there last night, I fried his drive before I came to find you," she answered. "They're not gonna find anything that way."

Ranma smirked, and the four of them continued down the side street, out of sight. Ten seconds later, Elena and Tseng stepped out of the mansion's front doors.

"Shouldn't we go after him, sir?" Elena asked as they strode down the main stairs.

Tseng shook his head gently, a few bandage wraps visible over his neck and shoulder under the suit jacket. "Despite the apparent loss of the data, Corneo is, at this point, a negligible factor in his plans. Without the data linking AVALANCHE to Rufus, he has no further leverage to use against us, or Rufus." He took a clipboard from an approaching trooper and and glanced over it. "No, make sure all of his assets are frozen first." He returned the clipboard and the trooper ran off. "The President will be holding a meeting this evening, and they will decide then what actions to take regarding the Ancient girl. And Rufus is making his travel plans as we speak. AVALANCHE is out of the way, the Saotome brat with them, and with that, Rufus' return should proceed smoothly."

"Unless something else happens," Elena muttered, running one gloved hand through her short hair. "Sir, is there anything else you need for now?"

"Nothing," he answered. "Dismissed, Elena."

Elena stood to attention and gave a salute, before walking away.

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Graffiti and other markings covered a section of the wall close to the pillar. Several children played around the piles of junk and assorted scrap. In the middle of it, against the wall, was a long coiled wire, looking as though it was waiting to be connected somewhere. Cloud looked up the cable into the distance above.

One of the children walked up to them, a girl with bright red hair, noticing Cloud looking up at the wire. "Some of the other kids climbed up there. Too scary for Mewt though," she said, pointing at the smallest boy, a mousy brown-haired kid ducked down near the wall.

"Do you know where it goes?" Cloud asked, crouching down to the girl's height.

"Marche says it came from above the Plate," the girl answered. "I guess it goes up there somewhere."

"Thanks," Cloud smiled, and stood up, running one hand through his hair. He turned to the others. "I honestly don't know if we can do this from here."

Barret turned to Cloud. "Mister Big Shot Ex-SOLDIER here, declaring defeat at the bottom of the mountain," he mocked. "I say we _can _do this. We ain't got time to wander around down here."

"Do you have any idea how far up it actually goes?"

"It's not coiled up here on the ground, so it goes higher than we are now," Barret countered. "We can figure out more as we go, but we gotta start _here_."

Cloud shook his head doubtfully, but relented. "Fine, let's go."

Ranma started up the wire, followed by Cloud, Barret, and Tifa. The wall stopped about twenty meters up, where several kids were currently perched. As the four of them passed, the kids cheered them on, Tifa getting a few extra cheers for some reason. The wire did not go all the way to the top, but the top end was coiled firmly around a much thicker cable hanging down from above.

The tangle of loose construction parts, wires, cables, and for some reason a broken airplane propeller, led slowly but steadily higher. The climb took over an hour, and passed mostly in silence, aside from periodic groans of exhaustion. "Even SOLDIER boot camp wasn't this tough," Cloud commented at one point.

"Oh, yeah, I'm sure they did a good job training y'all to march forward with a gun in your hand and shoot or die while the bigwigs stuffed more money into their pockets," Barret replied, dripping with sarcasm.

"Enough, the both of you," Tifa called down to them. "We got a tough jump coming up, and I don't see any way around it."

The platform they now stood on was stable enough. Which was good, because the leap to the next platform was, indeed, a significant distance, with nothing but empty air between them. "Barret," Ranma said quietly, "this one is gonna be the hardest for you, I think. We can give it a shot, or we can turn back and find another way up through these cables."

Barret inched forward to the edge of the drop, peering down below. The ground below was distant enough that perspective began to fail, the mind rationalizing the tiny figures moving below as ants rather than people, since the alternative was to accept that you were more than ninety meters up. He briefly glanced back the way they had come, before shaking his head vehemently. "Nah, we'll cross here," he said with a tone of finality.

"Cloud, I think you should go first," Ranma indicated the gap, "so you can grab Barret if something happens."

Cloud nodded, and the others made room on the platform. He took a few steps back, set his legs, and took a running leap across to the next platform, clearing the distance easily. He skidded slightly as he decelerated, twisting his body and grasping at the railing to keep from flying over the opposite edge. "I'm good," he called back across.

Ranma nodded, and looked back to Barret, who was already positioning himself for his run-up. "Sure you want to give this a go?" he warned.

"Heh, no problem," Barret answered. "Anything you kids can do…" and with that, he sprinted forward, legs charging as he moved. He reached the edge, and leaped almost flawlessly, performing a textbook long jump. His landing was less than dignified, as competition long-jumps tend to land in soft sand, rather than on unyielding metal grates hanging in the air. But it was a landing. Barret returned to his feet slowly, rubbing his backside, and grinned across the gap. "I can do it too!"

Ranma returned the smile, then turned to face Tifa. "Ladies first?" he asked.

"If that's the case, shouldn't _you _go first?" she jibed, but got herself prepared. She made the leap fairly easily, and collided with Cloud as she tried to slow down, nearly knocking them both to the platform.

Ranma stepped up to the edge, and crouched down. "Gonna be okay over there?" Tifa shouted. Ranma focused for a moment, and leaped upwards with a mighty push, slightly denting the metal where he had stood. His arc carried him forward perfectly to land on the railing of the platform occupied by the others. "What," Tifa said flatly.

"Saotome-school specializes in mid-air combat," he explained. "So we learn how to jump pretty well." With that he hopped off the railing and continued on the climb.

"Fuckin' show-off," Barret called after him, but followed anyway, grinning slightly.

-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-

"Goddess, are we finally there?" Tifa panted, as they vaulted the last barrier.

They stood in the recesses of darkness just outside the Sector 6 plate workzone. Before them lay an empty stretch of pavement, followed by the entrance to Shinra Tower. Even to Ranma's eyes, used to the skyscrapers and office buildings all over Tokyo, this structure seemed massive. Occupying what appeared to be almost enough ground estate to cover Sector 7 again, it was a monument to nothing other than itself, a colossal steel and glass spire of no imagination or grace. It seemed to deform the landscape around it, the unimaginable weight of so much material and the effort it must have taken to build.

"Perfect metaphor for Shinra itself," Barret grumbled. "Big-ass building on top of this giant fucking metal pizza, the whole company and everything it built, standing on top of the backs of everyone living underneath it."

Tifa nodded, frowning. "What's the plan?"

"Guns blazin', I say," Barret said simply, raising his arm and loading a fresh belt of ammunition into the chamber.

"Risky," Ranma said, peering into the distance separating them from the entrance. "Place like this'll be crawling with security. We go in and make a ruckus in the lobby, they can just send all their troopers and SOLDIER after us and box us in… or wait until we get into the elevator and override it, cut the cables, and drop us from wherever they like. Even make us a neat little coffin if they do that."

Cloud stared at him, more than a little shocked at the blase description of the situation. "So, front door's out, then."

"Only if we can't come up with a better idea..." Ranma cupped his chin in thought. "Dunno about you all, but I want Aerith safe before we really start goin' to town on them."

Tifa glanced at Cloud. "Cloud, you used to be a SOLDIER, right?" She turned to face him, gesturing at the building with one arm. "Haven't you been here before?"

"Been years, but yeah."

"Any back doors? Fire escape? I don't think we can pose as window washers for something this big."

Cloud tugged at his chin for a moment, then nodded. "I remember a stairwell over in the alley there," he said, pointing. "It's part of the emergency escape system. They were gonna use it for part of our basic training, but part of it had fallen in and it was being rebuilt back then." He shuddered involuntarily. "It's a _looooong_ way up."

Tifa nodded, punching one hand into her other palm. "Let's go, then," she said brightly.

Cloud chuckled. "I'll be amazed if you can keep up that enthusiasm."

-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-

**Floor 10**

"I'm pretty surprised this isn't more heavily guarded," Ranma said as they climbed the stairs. "And by that, I mean 'guarded', apparently."

"Used to be," Cloud answered, a few steps behind him, beads of perspiration starting to form on his brow. "They stopped after the Wutai war ended a few years back. After all, who'd attack Shinra these days?"

"Us."

"Yeah, us. Who else, though? Anyone else who wanted to do it would have to send an army to get this far. What army is gonna pile into the fire escape?"

Ranma considered the point. "Still careless of them," he replied.

"I'm sure they'll be more than willing to hear your criticisms of their security after we rescue Aerith, and burn this place to the ground."

**Floor 20**

"What floor is this, anyway?" Barret asked.

"Uhhh... twenty two, I think," Ranma answered. "Don't ask me to keep count, though."

"Man, fuck Shinra and their stupid ass stairs."

"No argument from me. Keep climbing though."

There was a sound from below that could only be described as 'yeeek'. This was immediately followed by a series of quiet mumbles and an exchange of hissed accusations.

Barret paused, glancing down the stairwell as the footsteps resumed below. "Tifa?" he called down to the previous landing.

"Yeah, I'm okay," she replied in a frustrated tone. "Just… not letting any of you get behind me again."

"Not a race, Tifa."

"I know, but I just…" she trailed off.

"She thinks I was looking up her skirt," Cloud explained as he came up behind the others.

"Were ya?"

"No, and even if I was, we're _kinda busy_ right now to be doing anything like that."

"Just shut up and _keep climbing!_" Tifa shouted from below. Everyone got a move on.

**Floor 30**

"How long do these stairs go on?" Barret groaned miserably.

"Fifty nine floors," Cloud panted, starting to feel the climb himself.

"Quit whining, you two," Tifa growled as she caught up. "I'm not getting in front of you two again, no more free shows."

Barret looked up, seeing Ranma already two flights ahead in the spiralling stairwell. "How the hell does he do that?"

"What?"

"We're sitting here… about to fall over, an' he isn't even… breathin' hard!"

"Why don't you ask him?" Tifa offered, pushing Barret to his feet. Cloud and Barret started moving again.

"Cuz if the answer is somethin' like 'inner peace', I'd shoot 'im, and I can't afford to shoot 'im right now."

**Floor 39**

Ranma stopped and crouched down as Barret and Cloud darted past, picking up a bluish-green bottle sitting on the landing. "Hey," he called to the others.

"What?" Tifa breathed, the sound echoing up from the previous landing. "Need help?"

"Maybe," he admitted, holding up the long-necked bottle. "Isn't this one of those… whaddya call them… Elixir?"

Tifa rounded the landing and looked at the bottle he was holding up. "I… holy crap, it is."

"Aerith told me about some of the healing tonics Shinra made," he explained. "I still don't understand how something like that works, but I remember her saying this is one of the more expensive ones."

"Yeah, it is. Where was it?"

"On the floor here," he answered, pointing at the stairwell landing.

Tifa looked like she was about to explode. "Thing costs like a month's wages below the plate, someone just leaves it here? On the ground? In an abandoned stairwell? What the hell?"

"Ours now," he said, moving his arms in a familiar pattern, the bottle disappearing.

Tifa grinned. "You are _so_ showing me how to do that."

**Floor 48**

"I spy, with my little eye, something beginning with S…"

"Don't you _fucking_ dare, Barret!"

**Floor 56**

"Think we're pretty close now," Cloud said offhandedly.

"What makes ya think that?"

"Two reasons… One is that I think I can see the ceiling.

"That could just be heaven coming down to greet us before our deaths. What's the other reason?

"Ranma stopped moving," he answered, pointing to the flash of red cloth at the top of the stairwell, the dark-haired boy peeking down from overhead.

**Floor 59**

Ranma had been waiting for about a minute by the time the others caught him up. "Take a minute, catch your breath," he said quietly. "It's gonna get ugly when we go out there."

Cloud nodded, leaning against the wall. "Troopers?"

"Think so," he replied. "There's ten that I can see in the standard riot gear like what we saw on the plate last night. Four more are wearing heavy looking red armor, head-to-toe."

Cloud gestured to Ranma, and he stood aside. Cloud opened the door a crack, peering out at the guards, counting off in his head. After a moment, he closed the door again. "Sixteen troopers, six more in red armor. I think the red ones are something out of the Weapons division," he explained. "Machines, basically. The rest of them should just be run-of-the-mill, but yeah, the guard is pretty heavy here."

"We'll need to make sure none of them can raise an alarm," Tifa whispered. "If they put the upper floors on alert, our job gets a lot harder. Ranma, any ideas?"

Ranma shook his head. "I could get past the human guards, but I don't think I can stealth my way past a machine. We'll have to charge them and make sure we take them out fast and quiet."

"Really think we can pull it off?"

"We haven't got another choice. Aerith needs our help now." Ranma shrugged off his burnt leather jacket, leaving it on the floor, before turning to the others. "Everyone ready?"

In the dimly lit stairwell, all of them nodded in unison. "For Sector 7," Tifa whispered, tugging the straps on her gloves.

"For AVALANCHE," Barret added, pulling free the safety on his gun-arm.

"For Aerith," Cloud confirmed, drawing his blade.

Ranma nodded, and yanked the door open. All four of them piled into the 59th floor lobby, and a moment later, battle ensued.

* * *

**A/N: Incoming mook horror show.**

**Honestly, I don't know why Shinra didn't just lock the elevator with you inside it and drop it from the 20th floor, but I guess that's just me being ruthlessly practical.**

**The kids at the bottom of the plate are intended to be references to ****Final Fantasy Tactics Advance.**** Marche is the default name for the player character in FFTA. Mewt is nominally the antagonist. Likewise, the girl with red hair is referring to Ritz. Decided to throw it in here.**

**I read the climb section out loud to a number of my friends in person before publishing this. Floor 48 consistently made all of them crack up, so I kept it in. Some others got cut or reshuffled. ****Hidden Weapons Style makes a brief reappearance here as well.**

**As an update to the future schedule, there will be no update the weekend of Feb. 2. I will be out of town for most of the weekend, will not have access to my computer, and while I will have my phone, I do not trust detailed document editing to a cellphone interface. Coupled with the fact that my writing this past week has been less than satisfactory due to a severe sinus issue that sidelined me in bed for two days, and the end result is I am trying to get back to my usual standards so that I can keep giving you all a story worth reading. On that note... I will probably have a nice little surprise for you all come the end of February.**

**Hope you like it! Comments and feedback welcome!**


	18. From Shadows

**Has it already been two weeks? Goodness. Last weekend was good for me, spent time with family, did some nerdy stuff, and generally had fun and some relaxation. And then... I got horribly sick. Flu, lost my voice, barely slept, felt like death, missed a couple days of work. But you all ain't here for that. You're here for the story. So let's get back into it, shall we?**

**Comment time!  
fen: Yeah, we're going to be avoiding some of the more... um... 'dramatic' instances of Cloud's absurd strength for most of the story. The basic line I'm drawing here within the story is that humans are still, biologically, humans. They can get cut, they can be shot, and the like. As a result, each individual foe right down to Shinra's baseline troopers are a potentially lethal threat.  
silentstrixe: I *hate* stairs. But I almost always feel better after finishing off a climb of stairs, in the "Hey, this doesn't suck as much anymore" kind of feeling better. It's strange, seeing the places you'll pull your personal experiences from when you write.  
Hmm23: Ranma generally tries to get back to male form at any time where doing so would not otherwise endanger others or delay an active goal. In this case, he had an opportunity to become male again at the inn near the Gainsborough household, and decided to stay that way. He's also familiar enough with the curse that he knows if he gets hosed, he's staying in the other form for a while.**

**Owing to the illness that has plagued me for literally all of this week, I didn't get a whole heck of a lot of writing or editing done. But I got this one ready to go. Hope to stay on track going forward.**

* * *

Chapter Eighteen

From Shadows

[ ν ] - εγλ 0007, December 12

* * *

The last trooper collapsed to the ground, a heavy slash through his riot armor. The other guards and the mechanical troops were strewn about the floor, some in pieces. Ranma drew a breath and looked over the carnage, as Barret and Ranma began pulling the bodies off to the side. It was, briefly, disquieting to think that he'd just struck someone with intent to kill. It was significantly more disturbing to him that he'd succeeded. He hadn't restrained himself; he'd not bothered wasting his more powerful techniques, but over his own objections, he'd just killed human beings in his goal to rescue Aerith. A cold shiver ran down his back as a tiny part of him noted how effortless it had been.

Ranma shook his head at that. It hadn't been effortless. Physically, the troopers had proven no challenge, yes. But a larger and more insistent part of him realized he'd crossed a line, walked through a door that he could no longer return from. He'd struck with intent to kill and succeeded. People now lay dead before him as a direct result of-

Ranma paused and took another breath. There was no time to have a crisis of conscience here in the heart of enemy territory. He shuffled the train of thought to the back of his head, resolving to deal with it later. Aerith's safety was what mattered right now, he reminded himself, refocusing his attention.

"How long you think we got before security notices the blood?" Barret asked Cloud, the question snapping Ranma out of his reverie.

"Honestly? About thirty seconds ago." Cloud dragged the last body into the stairwell. "I'm surprised we haven't heard anything yet. Either those cameras are for show, or the guys up on sixty six are asleep."

Ranma nodded. "By the way, what's this for?" he said, indicating a badge he'd snagged from one of the guards' uniforms in the middle of combat. He passed it to Cloud, who looked it over.

"Yeah, we'll need this," he said, and pocketed it.

"What is it?"

"The floors up to fifty nine are considered low security, as these things go," he explained, gesturing over to the stairwell. "Everything above us is special access. Each floor requires a specialized access card to get to."

"What's on this floor, anyway?" Tifa asked.

"Mostly cubicles, offices, a couple conference rooms..."

"So nothin' important?" Barret confirmed.

"Nope."

"Then let's go."

**Floor 60**

Cloud peeked out the door on floor sixty. "Guards," he whispered.

"Human ones?" Ranma asked.

"They look human enough. No machines that I can see," Cloud confirmed.

Ranma nodded and gave a wicked grin of amusement. "All right, Tifa," he said, cracking his knuckles. "You want to be my student too? I'm going to give you your first lesson, right now."

Tifa looked torn between worry and excitement. "Are you sure we have time for this right now?"

"Watch and learn, that's all. Cloud," he said, turning to face him. "Give Tifa the security card. Tifa, if you still have a hold of the card by the time I get back, then I'll teach you this technique as soon as we are out of here."

Tifa and Cloud shrugged, and Cloud handed her the ID card. Ranma stood to one side, and raised his arms to shoulder height, letting his wrists go limp. He whispered something that the others couldn't hear, and then seemed to fade from view.

"The hell'd he go?" Barret demanded quietly, still mindful of his surroundings.

"I think it's one of his special techniques, something he knew from his world," Cloud answered. "When we met in the Sector 5 slums, he did… _something_, I still don't understand what, but it turned a half dozen troopers' weapons into scrap laying on the ground, and also knocked out three of the Turks."

"And last night when we were escaping from Corneo," Tifa added, miming the motion of the _M__ō__ko Takabisha _as best as she could recall, still gripping the ID card in one hand, "he did this thing, where… it was like he just made a big fireball explode out of his hands. And unless he swallowed it or something, I'm pretty sure that he wasn't using materia."

"Nope, I wasn't," Ranma confirmed, standing behind the trio. His sudden appearance caused all three of them to jump in shock, Barret starting to raise his gun-arm in an attack posture before he recognized the boy.

"The hell, Ranma, thought you was a ghost for a second there," Barret said, lowering his gun. "Were ya gonna do something about those guards with that little trick o' yours, or do you just fuck with the living?"

"What guards?" Ranma said innocently.

"The ones that…" Barret gave up. "Fine, do it myself." And turned and walked out into the security area, his gun-arm raised. A moment later, Barret's voice could be heard around the corner. "...what the hell?"

Cloud and Tifa glanced at Ranma, then together stepped out through the doorway. Six heavily armed bodies in padded coats lay unconscious on the floor. None of them had drawn weapons, and nobody had heard a sound, not even of the limp bodies striking the ground. Tifa turned around and saw Ranma standing there with a smirk on his face. "All right, that was pretty good. But now you're gonna pay up. Because I…" she trailed off, seeing Ranma lift one hand, holding a security badge. Tifa looked down at her own hand, which had been firmly gripping the badge.

Which was now holding firmly onto the Elixir they had found in the stairwell.

Tifa stared at her own hand as if it was an alien being, utterly confused by the turn of events. "...how…"

"It's all in the reflexes," he said, still smirking. "None of them had a badge on them, so we might be stuck here.

"No, Ranma, hold on, _how_ did you actually do that?" Cloud insisted.

Ranma sighed. "You three were distracted. I slipped behind her and switched the card for the Elixir."

"Without me noticing you'd taken it out of my hand, and put something else in my hand in its place," Tifa elaborated flatly, still not quite believing it as her hand dropped to her side.

Ranma blinked, glancing between the trio as they argued the point. "Wait, I took out six guards without making a peep or being seen, and you three are hung up on _that?_"

"Far as we're concerned," Barret rumbled, "_that's_ the more impressive feat."

Ranma sighed in defeat. "Fine, let's get moving at least. Anything else worth checkin' out on this floor?"

Cloud thought for a moment. "I think the rest of this floor is dedicated to the maintenance of the above floors," he commented. "Electrics, fire suppression, plumbing, janitorial equipment…"

"So, nothing. Let's go," Tifa said.

"Wait." The other three turned to Ranma, who was now looking out to the back of the building, away from the stairs. "Fire suppression... you mean like sprinklers, right?"

Cloud nodded. "A bit more aggressive, but yeah. They release a chemical that smothers fires by pushing all the air out of the way. It's..." Cloud blinked, realizing what Ranma was suggesting. "You want to disable it?"

"If we can, yes." Ranma looked across at the three of them. "Can we? Without getting security on our backs? Would make tearin' this place down afterwards a hell of a lot easier."

Cloud and Tifa considered the possibility. "Probably not without triggering something," Tifa said finally, looking down at the ground for a moment. "That was... Jessie's specialty. Maybe on the way out, though."

Ranma gave her a nod and followed the others towards the stairwell.

**Floor 61**

"Door's open already," Tifa whispered, peeking her head over the top of the stairway railing.

"What, open? Or just unlocked?" Cloud asked from below.

"Open, like _stuck_ open."

Ranma stepped around the others and walked up the stairs to the landing, despite their hisses to get out of sight. He strolled through confidently and looked up at the entryway.

"Doesn't look obstructed or anything…" he considered, rubbing his chin in thought. "Malfunction maybe?"

"Oh, good, Maintenance is finally here," someone called out from inside.

Ranma looked in the direction of the voice. Several suited workers were sitting or standing nearby, and one man in a navy-blue suit with short platinum blonde hair was walking towards him with a put-upon look on his face. The area appeared to be a cafeteria or break room, with large tables and chairs set about the area. He cleared his throat and did his best to sound professional. "Yeah, sorry about the delay, there was-"

"Never mind that," the man said, more than a little grumpy. "The door needs to be fixed, it's a security issue, this should have been top priority!"

"I appreciate the concern," Ranma did his best to look abashed as he spoke. "But you know how it is, they tell us what order to do the jobs in, and a flooded bathroom took the top spot. The other problem is, they ran out of badges for up here, and I'm gonna need to check the entry way on sixty-two to see if I can find the issue. Anyone lend me theirs for a few minutes?"

Navy Suit looked at Ranma oddly. "What would you need to check on sixty-two? Door's _here_."

"Look, _something_ is obstructing the door's closure," Ranma argued, gesturing calmly to the open door. "It's not here, I just came from sixty and it isn't there either. So I need to get up there and get into the maintenance crawl-ways so I can check the mechanism above the door. You need the door fixed; I need access to do my job. Gonna help me out or not?"

Navy Suit grumbled, but acquiesced. "Fine, here," he said reluctantly, handing over a badge. "Gonna need that back so I can get back to my seat later, so don't forget about me, yeah?"

Ranma glanced over the badge. "Sure thing, Locke. Won't be long. Meet you back here in… what, thirty minutes? If I can't fix it by then…" he shrugged.

"Yeah, yeah," Locke replied. "Get going, I'll be here."

Ranma nodded, and walked back over to the door, giving it another cursory look. Stepping back inside the stairway vestibule, he motioned to the others. "Sometimes you just gotta fake it until you make it," he said casually over the banister. "Come on, coast is clear."

**Floor 62**

"So, what, it's just a library?" Tifa asked after several minutes searching.

"Archival records for Shinra's projects and historical data, but…" Cloud nodded. "Yeah, basically, it's a library."

"Goddess, what a waste of paper."

"Don't know about that, Tifa," Cloud countered, "there's a lot of stuff here about the Ancients, biology and cultural history…"

"Wait," Ranma said, skimming through the document titles. "You had a space-flight program?"

Barret nodded. "Yeah, years ago," he answered. "I remember there was a big damn deal about the project when I was a lot younger. Never went anywhere though, and I think it got scrapped about four or five years ago."

Ranma shook his head in disappointment. Tifa looked at his reaction. "Your world has been to space?" she asked, though it was only barely a question.

"Yeah, it wasn't Japan that did it, but it was a major point in human history," he explained. "It's too long to go into here, but it took years of dedicated work from some of the biggest minds of the past century, and tons of money and resources, but men and women of Earth have been in space and walked on the moon."

That last statement caused everyone present to stop and turn. "One day I'm gonna _not_ be surprised by stuff outta your mouth about this Earth place," Barret commented. "But it ain't today, that's for sure. You're telling us all about this later when we're safe."

"Deal," Ranma agreed, then pointed to a smaller office in the corner. "What about that last door?"

The door had a brass plaque out front that read 'Domino, Mayor of Midgar'. Nobody was inside or outside of it. Cloud stepped inside, noticing the table strewn over with documents, the safe against the floor in one corner, the rows of filing cabinets, and the overall sense of cramped space. "Not much in here," Cloud said quietly. "Just more paperwork."

Tifa stepped inside as well, and looked over the sheets of data and work orders, the rank and file of the bureaucracy. There was an envelope below the first layer, and Tifa picked it up, reading the scrawl on the outside. "Uh… that's unexpected."

"What?" Cloud asked, but Tifa was already stepping outside the office. She handed the envelope to Barret.

"Says 'To AVALANCHE'," he read out in a suspicious tone. He opened the envelope and held out the letter inside. "'Sorry to have missed you, you seem like such interesting people, but I am out at dinner. I've hidden something that will help you in my office, but the key is inside the library of documents on this floor. Here's a clue to get you started, look for-'"

"Bored with it," Cloud interrupted, and walked back into the office. Pulling the Buster Sword free from his back, he pointed the tip at the safe in the bottom corner of the room, and pushed straight through the steel wall of the safe with the blade as if it was made of butter. Wedging it apart, he reached inside, and pulled free a keycard and a light blue materia orb. "We don't have time for games, we need to rescue Aerith."

The others nodded their agreement, and they continued onwards.

**Floor 63**

"Anything here?" Tifa asked, glancing at Cloud.

"Main long-term equipment storage, central air and ventilation, and they kept some stupid Shinra coupon redemption computer here for some reason nobody understands."

"Let's keep going, then."

**Floor 64**

The group stepped out of the stairwell one at a time, and began walking along. "It's a health center, basically," Cloud explained. "Gymnasium, showers, rest area, lockers…"

"Maybe we can find someone's badge there?" Barret suggested.

"Seems like a good bet," Cloud replied. All four walked in a casual, staggered line towards the locker room, Cloud leading the way, Barret's gun-arm hidden underneath a folded towel draped over his right arm. Barret did his best to hide his disapproving glare as they passed by the high-comfort gym and spa, but couldn't stop his grumbling about the wealthy sitting in the lap of luxury while the rest starved.

Inside the locker rooms, the four of them split up and began sorting through the lockers as quickly as possible. "Clothes, clothes, clothes, a megaphone, a trooper's uniform…" Cloud muttered. "Don't even remember how long ago it was when I got sick of wearing that…"

Tifa groaned in frustration. "This place is a mess! How are we supposed to find anything in this crap?" In anger, she punched the jammed locker door at the end of the row, bending the metal even further out of shape. This caused the locker to tilt slightly to one side. So tilted, a bar of soap resting atop the lockers slid down off the top, bouncing off the polished tile floor and coming to a rest to one side. Where Ranma was walking between the rows of lockers.

Ranma's foot stepped down firmly on the soap bar, causing him to lose his balance and careen forward on the tile floor. Unable to regain his balance in the face of momentum, he tripped and fell at the end of the row, right into the line of showers. One flailing arm, reaching for a handhold, landed on the showerhead, spraying him atop the hair with ice cold water.

Ranma sat there for a moment, her expression grumpy as she released the showerhead. "So, if _anyone_ at all ever had _any_ doubts," she started, "about this curse magnetizin' water to me, at the worst _possible _times, I want you to remember this moment." She stood up, grabbed a towel, and dried her shirt and hair.

"Use the shower to change back?" Cloud suggested.

Ranma shrugged. "Too much work right now, an' we ain't got time to burn waitin' for the water to heat up. Kami wants me a girl right now, I'll be a girl for now."

"Who is this 'Kami' you keep talking about?" Tifa asked sincerely.

Ranma opened her mouth, but hesitated. She considered the viability of breaking down even the basics of Shinto into a five minute conversation, and immediately abandoned all hope. "It's complicated," she answered instead. "I'll explain later, when there's time."

"I can see that 'Ranma's Fun Time Story Hour' is gonna feature into a lot of our rest time," Barret commented. "Course, that's assumin' we survive the night. By the way," he said, holding up his hand, which held a badge with a name on it and the number 66 printed on it. "Let's get movin', yeah?"

**Floor 65**

"I think this is Urban Development's department," Cloud said, uncertain. "Never visited here before."

The floor was clean, uncluttered, and contained a number of different offices. A long glass wall lined one side, behind which was a workbench and a number of small mechanical models. Some were of various war constructs, others were of Midgar overall, still more seemed to show the inner workings of the mako reactors. All of it was meticulously organized, except the area that appeared to be the current focus, a small model of a humanoid dressed in a SOLDIER uniform, alongside a set of small stuffed animals standing in a carefully positioned row, a chocobo, a moogle, and a moomba among them.

"They can't be planning to mechanize all of SOLDIER," Cloud commented, when Barret pointed the model out to him.

"Why not?" Barret said simply. "Don't need food, water, or sleep. Don't disobey orders, can't rebel, and you don't need to meet any recruitin' quotas. Jus' build your army out of parts, like the toys we had when we were kids. Batteries included, this time."

Cloud looked over the models in puzzlement. "Why would it be here, anyway? If they're planning something like this, you'd think it'd be stored in the Weapons Development floors. What would Urban Development need with robots?"

"You bin outta the loop a while, Mister Big Shot," Barret rumbled. "Don't waste your time thinking Shinra's been sittin' up here just sendin' out bills to folks. For all we know, they're usin' these things to build more reactors."

Ranma pointed to a large computer screen, currently isolated from most of the clutter. "Any idea what 'Project Sidhe' might mean?"

"Project Swhat?" Tifa asked, struggling over the unfamiliar word.

"No idea," Cloud answered. "SOLDIER never really got involved in anything going on here. Never had to."

Barret glanced over everything. "What the hell are they up to, anyway?"

Cloud shook his head, but they moved on, finding nothing else of consequence.

**Floor 66**

Cloud looked around as they entered from the stairwell, and then immediately ducked back in. "Everyone back," he whispered urgently, waving them down with one hand.

"What is it?" Tifa whispered back.

Cloud peeked his head out of the door again. "Heidegger and Scarlet," he said quietly, "they're just down the hall talking about something.

Barret growled, his fist clenching at the mention of the two names. "We can't stay in this stairwell forever, y'know."

"Yeah, gimme a minute." Cloud peeked out again, and saw both executives turn away, heading down the hall in the opposite direction. "Now, move, head to the left!"

Cloud waved the rest through and guided them around the corner as Scarlet and Heidegger sauntered down the hallway. Before he could duck out himself, the pair turned to the right, facing a door halfway down, but still in sight of the stairwell if he stepped out. He flattened himself against the wall inside the stairwell and took a breath. After a long moment, he peeked back out. Scarlet and Heidegger were both gone.

"C'mon!" Ranma called as loud as she dared, seeing Cloud's head poking out from the doorway. "They went inside already." Cloud nodded and ran around the wall to the others. "So, who the hell were those two?" she asked.

"Scarlet is the head of Shinra's Weapons Development and Research," Cloud answered. "Heidegger is the head of Public Safety… the actual military branch of Shinra."

"That guy runs SOLDIER?" Tifa asked. Behind her, Barret curled his good hand into a fist, growling incoherently.

"And the naval forces, and the city militia, and the Regular Army troopers," Cloud added. He looked around the corner again and saw someone step out of the stairwell. "Ssshhhh…" he waved them back. A man in a labcoat stepped out of the stairwell, stringy black hair pulled back into a sloppy ponytail. "He looks familiar…" Cloud whispered, but shook his head, unable to place the face.

"Seems everyone's getting in this meeting," Tifa whispered. "We need to find out what they're up to."

"Too risky with all of us," Ranma muttered. "One or two of us might've been able to get in, when there wasn't already people inside."

"We should split up, then, try to find our own separate access points?" Tifa suggested, then reconsidered. "Wait, Cloud, you said security was on this floor?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Can we give them a blackout?"

Cloud thought for a moment, and then nodded. "Yeah, follow me. You two, try to find a way to get an ear on that meeting."

Barret nodded, and he and Ranma turned the corner and started moving down the halls. The floor seemed to mostly consist of individual, executive-level offices. "Ranma," Barret said quietly.

"Hm?"

"Didn't get much chance to say this before…" he paused, taking a breath. "Thank you for helping me find Marlene."

"Barret, I'd'a done that for free," she answered, lowering her gaze to the ground. "But you're welcome."

Barret nodded thoughtfully. "You're… somethin', that's for sure."

"Flattery will get you nowhere, buddy." She took a moment, glancing around. "Maybe the restroom?"

"What?"

"Air vents gotta go somewhere," she said, shrugging.

**Nearby...**

Cloud pushed the tip of his sword into the wall. "That should be close enough," he said, backing up. "Hit it."

Tifa nodded, aiming carefully, and summoned a Thunder spell to strike the sword. The excess current ran down the handle, through the blade, into the wall, and leaped into the circuitry and cables controlling camera feeds, door accesses, and even secured communication lines. Within moments, the security control room was blind, mute, and locked shut.

**Elsewhere...**

The door behind Locke gave a shudder just after he passed through it and halted in the open position. "Not again…" he muttered. "That does it, I'm calling Maintenance myself this time."

**And then...**

"Can't believe you talked me into this," Barret hissed, trying to pull himself silently along the inside of the admittedly sizable air vent. "I ain't exactly a master o' stealth like you."

"Ssh, listen," Ranma cautioned, somehow standing in a low crouch and walking easily along, her footfalls silent even against the sheet metal. There was a sound of voices from ahead and below. She lowered down to hands and knees, and somehow effortlessly swung her body across to one side of a vent outlet. She motioned for Barret to move closer, and he did so, slowly inching towards the vent.

"Lotta suits," he whispered, earning a waggling index finger from Ranma.

"-damage is estimated at approximately 10 billion gil," one of the people below was reading off of a document, in a heavy accent and a clearly concerned voice. "The estimated cost to rebuild Sector 7 is-"

"We're not rebuilding," a calm baritone voice said, with an air of finality.

Barret squeezed a fist. "That's the president," he whispered. "I'd remember his voice anywhere."

Sitting at the head of the table, holding a lit cigar in one hand, clad in a well-tailored crimson suit, and surrounded by the heads of departments, was President Rupert Shinra.

* * *

**A/N: Poor Locke. And yes, that is supposed to be Locke Cole, from FF6.**

**President Shinra's given name is... kind of a weird thing. Apparently, his first name is 'President'. As in, his mother gave him the first name of President. He's actually the CEO of Shinra Electric Power Company, not its president. So I guess... paging the Flynt brothers from Borderlands, someone's trying to hog into your territory. But... I dunno, he kinda looks like a Rupert, doesn't he? Credit to TheScreamingViking for originally naming him Rupert, it stuck in my head and every other name I tried to stick him with didn't fit right.**

**I always wondered about what all was on the other floors, because it felt like each floor in the game was significantly smaller than the space they were supposed to occupy. I tried to make this office building make a little more sense in the context of being an office building. Though at least in this one John McClane is unlikely to appear in the air ducts.**

**Hope you like it! Feedback and comments welcome :)**


	19. Seeing Red

**Another week, another chapter. I'm finally recovered from the scrunge that has plagued me since the end of last weekend... well, mostly, anyways. Real talk, throat infections suck. This week has been slow on the writing by comparison, largely due to the aforementioned recovery stealing a lot of my focus. But I managed to make some moderate progress in the rough drafts, and I'm happy with what's happened with the editing, and that's what matters.**

**KuraraII: This is a valid point, and I will definitely be taking that into consideration. There's a lot going on in the first parts of the story, and getting the readers (and to some extent the characters) up to speed on it all was an initial focus of mine. Now that this has been mostly accounted for, I'm planning to start moving into the long haul of the story.  
Mr. Haziq: Ranma is definitely going to have to evolve some, yeah. The problem is... it's Ranma. He's very strongly set in his pride and doesn't like it when outside forces conspire to make him alter his behavior. That doesn't mean that he can't, or won't, but it does mean he's going to have to work at it.**

**Anyhoo, here is the new chapter, and I hope you all like it!**

* * *

Chapter Nineteen

Seeing Red

[ ν ] - εγλ 0007, December 12

* * *

"We're _not_ rebuilding," President Shinra said with an air of finality, taking a long drag on his cigar.

"What?"

"We're leaving Sector 7 exactly as it is." He exhaled a cloud of smoke, and turned to look at the man in the simple blue suit. "And restarting the Neo-Midgar plans."

The man in blue looked shocked. "Then, the Ancients… you've…"

The president nodded confidently. "The 'Promised Land' will soon be in our hands. Start your work immediately. Increase mako rates by…" he shuffled through a few papers on the conference table, until he found the one he was looking for, "...fifteen percent in all sectors… and send out word to reactors in other cities to do the same."

"Rate hike! Rate hike!" an oversized man in a gaudy yellow suit yelled in a childish singsong. "Tra la-la la-la! Please include the Air Force in the new budget!" he finished with a pleading tone.

The president did not even respond to the outburst with visual confirmation of the man's existence. "The extra income will be divided between Reeve and Scarlet's departments," he indicated the man in the blue suit and the woman in the red evening gown.

Reeve sat down, but his expression remained pensive. "Sir, if the rates continue to climb, people will become upset, lose confidence in the company. They-"

"The _ignorant_ masses will do no such thing," Shinra interrupted. "They will continue to see Shinra and our mako energy as the only way to meet their needs, and to keep their lives moving along in comfort and peace. In the end, they'll have even more faith in us."

"Gyaa haa haa!" Heidegger, the man in the green general's coat, barked out a loud and annoying laugh. "Of course they'll have faith in us. After all, Shinra is the one who finally _ended_ the threat of those eco-terrorists, AVALANCHE, and _saved_ the people from their brand of destruction!"

"That dirty little shit!" Barret hissed, his temper flaring, but Ranma waved him into silence again.

"Hojo," the president went on, oblivious to the intruders above, "how's the girl doing?"

The man in the lab coat stood somewhat awkwardly, adjusting his glasses. "As a specimen, she's clearly inferior to her mother," he began in a greasy tone. "It's a shame the mother couldn't be recovered. I'm still in the process of comparing the biological data between the two specimens, but for now she appears viable."

"How long before you have all the data you need?"

"A hundred and twenty years, I think," he replied, nonchalant. "It's probably impossible to complete the research in the lifetime of the subject… or in our lifetimes, for that matter. I'm considering breeding her, we might get enough viable specimens to withstand the research."

"And the Promised Land?" Shinra demanded, setting his cigar down in a gold ashtray. "A timetable like that is going to hinder our plans significantly."

"Yes, and I need to return to work," he continued, almost oblivious to the words spoken to him. "She has strengths and weaknesses both." And Hojo wandered out of the room, mumbling to himself as he walked.

President Shinra ran one hand across his face. "Whatever," he muttered, picking up his cigar again and taking a long puff from it. "That concludes the meeting, I expect regular progress reports from each of you on your assigned tasks. Palmer, come see me in a few hours, perhaps we can find something to set your department to as well."

The man in the tacky yellow suit nodded at that, and each of the executives stood and filed out of the conference room. Ranma motioned to Barret, and the two began to work their way back down the vent. "Hojo must know where Aerith is," Ranma whispered. "We should see if we can follow him."

"Yeah, no shit," Barret grumbled back. "Need to get back to the others first. Don't want them runnin' off and doin' somethin' stupid."

"Like what?"

Barret shrugged. "If I could think of alla the different _kinds_ of stupid those two could get themselves into," he said, climbing down into the stall, "I'd'a told them specifically not to do that."

"Heh," Ranma said, accepting the handhold Barret offered to lower her back into the restroom. "You're like the team dad for those two, aren'cha?"

Barret grumbled quietly and crossed his arms. "Already got one kid runnin' around," he said. "Couldn't pay me enough to try watchin' over two more of their size."

"Don't worry, I'll keep your secret," she teased, stepping back out into the hallway. And nearly freezing as she saw Cloud and Tifa standing at the other end of the hallway, panicked looks on their faces. "Oh, hell, Barret, we may need to move."

"Whuzzap?"

"Not sure, but Cloud and Tifa are down the end of the hallway and look like someone just walked on their graves."

Barret peeked his head out of the door briefly, and caught Tifa's eye. He immediately ducked back in, and poked Ranma. "Keep an eye on 'em," he said in a gruff tone. "'Bout to throw a signal, you tell me what she does." With that, Barret stuck his good hand out of the restroom door and made a complicated sign with his fingers. Tifa stared at it for a long moment, before glancing to her right, and then holding up one hand in response.

"Well?" Barret asked.

"Right hand straight out, first two fingers raised, thumb out."

Barret nodded, and stepped out, walking towards them slowly. "What's got you two spooked?" he hissed as he approached.

"Sorry, Barret," Tifa replied quietly. "We made it around this corner just as that creepy guy in the lab coat came out, mumbling to himself. Then everyone else started coming out, so we thought we'd blown it."

"Give me a heart attack next time, it'll be kinder," Barret grumbled. "Guy in the lab coat's Hojo, he's our next destination."

"That was Hojo?" Cloud asked in bewilderment. "Never met him before, but… he's famous in SOLDIER circles-"

"Yeah, yeah, drop the psycho worship," Barret interrupted. "He's got Aerith, or he knows where they've stashed her. Either way, we gotta roll, now."

**Floor 67, 90 seconds previously…**

Hojo stepped through the doorway, his badge registering entry into the restricted access area. The door briefly began to close, then reopened. Hojo failed to notice, lost in his own musings. The lights overhead flickered briefly, and then returned to normal.

**Floor 67, now...**

Cloud stepped out of the stairwell, sword drawn, eyes alert and glancing in both directions. "Don't ask me what's up here," he said quietly. "I know the President's office is on the 70th floor, but I've never been this high up in the building before."

"This place gives me the willies," Ranma commented, a half step behind Cloud. "Like, seriously bad vibrations here."

"Any idea where we oughta go?" Barret asked, eyes peeled for any targets.

Cloud gestured with his sword. "This way, I think…"

The four of them moved down the hallway, and found themselves in a room filled mostly with wooden crates, and one enormous glass chamber in the middle. Hojo stood in front of it, peering through the glass at the creature within, a heavily scarred creature resembling a cross between a dire wolf and a panther. The four ducked out of sight behind the crates and assorted clutter.

"Is... _that_... today's specimen?" a man's voice called out from somewhere above them, a tone of disgust apparent in his question.

"Yes, indeed," Hojo responded, his gaze focused on the being within the chamber. "We're starting immediately. Load it into the elevator queue and be ready to raise it to the upper level at once."

"Sir!" the man acknowledged, and there was the sound of footsteps disappearing into the distance somewhere above.

Hojo leaned in close to the chamber glass, giggling in an entirely creepy manner. "My precious specimen…" And he turned, as if remembering a pot of tea he'd left on the stove, and walked past and out of the laboratory area without a second glance.

Ranma looked after the man as he left. "Definitely creepy," she said succinctly. "What's in the big glass tube, anyway?" She took a few steps out of the crates, and looked in at the 'specimen'. A four-legged creature with an almost leonine body, a wolf-like head, and a long narrow tail with what appeared to be a live flame on the end. The creature was curled up, half-asleep, the flaming tail flicking back and forth in an irritated pattern, the dark-red ridges of long fur along its spine contrasting with the lighter red of its bare skin over most of the rest of its body. "Huh. Weird, ain't got anythin' like that back home..."

"So that's Hojo…" Cloud said quietly, trailing off. It was then that he turned to see the object he'd been hiding behind. A large semi-spherical tank, with a door on it, bolted shut, and a glass panel fitted into the top of the door. He glanced up, noticing the plate welded to the tank. "Jenova…?" he whispered. Without thinking, he set his sword on his back, and hopped up on the lip of the door to peer through the view port.

"Hey," Ranma said, trying to catch his attention. "Cloud!"

Clou_dClou_dC_lso_udClou_dzCloudC_lo_ufd_Clo_uadClouu_dCl_ollu_d_Cl_ou_dsC_lo_ui_d_Cloud_

"Cloud!"

Cloud blinked, only then realizing that his eyes had been shut. _His head hurt. His hands were squeezing his head, so that made sense. He stopped doing that. He was trying to walk forward. He was on his back, he couldn't walk that way. How had he gotten on his back?_ He took a deep breath, only then realizing he'd been holding his breath over a minute. "I… I'm fine," Cloud said, panting softly. "It… the hell… Jenova… Sephiroth's… they brought it here…"

"Cloud, please stop, just breathe," Tifa said. _Tifa was kneeling on the floor, hovering over him. She looked sad. Upset, maybe. Hard to tell. Always so difficult to tell. Tell? Words. Something important._ "Did you see it?" he mumbled, still trying to piece himself together.

"See what?" Barret asked, waving his arms to indicate the rest of the room. "There's nothin' else _here_!"

"Barret, hush, that's not helping," Tifa berated him.

"Inside…" _Words. Words were always difficult. Never got the timing right. Maybe try not-words._ Cloud pointed with one shaky hand, body still shivering.

Barret turned around, noticing the tank as more than just a background object for the first time. He pulled himself up by the viewport and glanced inside. "The fuck?" he nearly yelled, dropping his volume at the last moment as he remembered where they were. He stepped away from the bolted door. "Where's its fuckin' head?" he hissed.

Ranma, sensing that something important was happening, ventured past Tifa and Barret, and being a bit shorter than either of the men in this form, practically had to climb up the door, hanging off of two of the rivets by her fingertips. She peered inside.

And immediately regretted it.

Words sprang to mind, all of them unpleasant. Starfish. Bent body. Limbs inside torso. Raw musculature. Eyes. Pink. Alien. Flesh. Something _trying _to build a human body for itself, and _failing _at every moment. A terrifying, overwhelming sense of _wrong _that made her fall backwards, tumble to her knees, and nearly vomit behind the crates. "O Kami, make me a stone," she whispered in prayer. Tifa looked up at her, and started to move towards the tank. "No, Tifa," Ranma said, holding out a hand. "Trust me on this, you're better off not seein' that thing, whatever it is."

"Dunno what that thing is," Barret said, shuddering involuntarily. "But the shrimp's right, whatever it is, it ain't for lookin' at. Whole thing's stupid…" he trailed off and glanced around the science department's storage area. "Looks like the coast is clear now. We need to get moving."

"Cloud, are you going to be all right?" Tifa asked.

Cloud nodded, slowly pulling himself to his feet. "I just… it freaked me, is all," he said calmly. "Sorry to worry you all. Barret's right, we need to go. Aerith still needs our help." With that, he turned and started walking, moving towards a service elevator in the back of the room.

Ranma and Tifa stared after him, almost identical expressions of disbelief on their faces. "Is he... for real?" Ranma said aloud, not really expecting an answer.

"He is," Tifa responded, a slight edge in her voice. "If he says he's okay, then he's okay."

Ranma nodded, uncertain, but followed anyway, leaving the specimen behind.

**Floor 68**

The service elevator led to an upper area of the science department, where a similar chamber appeared, almost twice as large as the one below it. Hojo stood in front of the clear chamber, examining it thoughtfully. As the team stepped out of the elevator, Hojo turned and noticed them, apparently for the first time.

Ranma ignored him, instead focusing her attention to the inside of the tank. "Aerith!" she called out, seeing the familiar red bolero as the girl beat against the inside of the glass with her hands.

Hojo glanced between Aerith and the incoming crowd of people. "Aerith?" he said with a distasteful tone. "Is that the specimen's name? What do you want, anyway?"

"We're taking her back!" Cloud declared, drawing his sword.

Hojo scowled. "I don't have time for this outsider nonsense, I have to get to work." He began to walk off, but Barret dashed in and grabbed the man by his lab coat, thrusting his gun-arm under Hojo's chin. "Oh-ho, very lively," he taunted with an air of someone examining a new type of insect. "Though I think you should re-examine your actions. After all, the equipment here is of such a delicate nature… Without someone of my intellect, who could possibly operate it, hmm?"

Barret grumbled in response, but slowly released Hojo from his grip. "You sonuva…"

"Yes, that's much better," Hojo rolled his eyes as he adjusted his clothing. "You really should take the time to consider the consequences before taking such rash action. For example..." he tilted his head up to a control room on a walkway above. "Bring in the specimen!"

"_What_?" Tifa cried out. "What are you doing?"

"Establishing the consequences, of course," he replied, unconcerned. "Both of these animals are the last of their kind, they must be given… a fighting chance, to beat the odds of extinction…" A panel inside the glass chamber slid aside, and a platform began to raise up from underneath. The 'specimen' from the chamber below appeared, its tail going straight and lowering its body in an aggressive stance. A savage, animalistic growl seemed to vibrate the air, originating from inside the chamber.

"Okay, that does it!" Barret barked out, pushing Hojo to one side, and turning his gun on the chamber itself.

"Wait, no!" Hojo shouted.

Barret ignored him. Aiming carefully at a portion of the glass some ways away from where Aerith was cowering, he let loose a salvo of automatic fire, but the chamber wall held.

And then began to glow, blindingly bright, causing them all to turn away in reflex.

"No, what have you done?" Hojo demanded, pushing past Barret and towards the chamber door. "My precious specimens… must document this…" He pressed a series of keys on a panel just in front of the chamber, and the door hissed open. The glow began to fade, leaving the chamber visible.

Aerith was still huddled to one side.

And the 'specimen' was now standing in front of the door, aggressive posture and all. It leaped, pouncing on Hojo and knocking him to the ground. "Gyaaah!" he yelled, as the weight of the creature's body pressed down on his chest, the low growl returning.

"Now's our chance!" Cloud said, leaping past the fallen Hojo and running into the chamber. He pulled Aerith to her feet, and looked at her. "You gonna be okay?"

"I think so," she responded. "Thanks, Cloud."

"Cloud!" Tifa called. "That elevator inside is moving again!"

Hojo giggled maniacally, easing up onto his elbows as the creature on top of him turned towards the specimen chamber. "Yes…" he hissed. "A _ferocious _specimen, indeed, to clear you all out. And then I can return to my experiments!" He turned and stumbled for a few steps, before disappearing down a hallway in the back of the room.

The wolf-like creature turned to face Barret. "The specimen he's bringing up is rather strong. You will need my help to subdue it."

Barret, Cloud, Aerith, and Tifa all turned to face the creature. "It talks?" Barret asked.

"And _he_ can do far more than that," he replied in an irritated tone. "But we have no more time right now."

Ranma jumped in close. "Little guy's right," she said simply. She moved her hands in a familiar pattern, pulling out a staff, and tossed it to Aerith. "What's your name?"

"The _good doctor_-" his voice dripping with sarcasm, "-called me Experiment XIII. Call me what you will."

Ranma nodded, looking over the skin and fur of the creature. "Red, then."

Red looked up at her in turn, noting in particular the color of her shirt and hair. "How... original," he responded dryly.

"Look, it's what I got in five seconds, deal with it."

The elevator's ascent began to slow as it reached the uppermost level of the science lab chamber, and the team got a good look at what was in front of them.

It was not what they had expected at all.

* * *

**A/N: I'd always figured AVALANCHE members would have developed some kind of signal code, a nonverbal way of demonstrating basic concepts like 'threat', 'clear', etc. This felt like a fun moment to demonstrate it.**

**"O Kami, make me a stone" is an adaptation of a Chinese prayer. The long form of the prayer translates roughly to "Merciful God, please take me away, I will close my eyes and and my heart and become a stone." The short form of the prayer is occasionally used in its place. Anyone who has watched the space western series Firefly/Serenity will probably recall River Tam speaking a similar line at one point.**

**I'll be honest, the first time I saw the Jenova cutscene, it kinda freaked me out. I wanted to re-create that level of discomfort, confusion, raw terror, that ought to have been present for anyone seeing, for the first time, a two-thousand-year-old eldritch abomination from space that had been rebuilt using a mad scientist's insane genetic experimentations. So... uh... you're welcome?**

**The particular flavor of Cloud's snap here on seeing Jenova was written from... a very personal moment. For those who have not already read my bio, I am transgender, and I identify as female. Early in my transition, when I was still adjusting to the hormone therapy, I had what I discovered to be occasional dissociative episodes caused by gender dysphoria triggers. In discussing this with my therapist at the time, the best description I had for it was as if the entire world 'skipped' for a moment, like a vinyl record hitting a scratch and looping the same line over and over again, but in fast forward. It is not a pleasant feeling at all. Subtracting gender dysphoria from the list of symptoms, I found that Cloud's 'seizures' from Jenova's control/proximity are similar in quite a few ways to what I had at the beginning. So, that's how I wrote it.**

**Regarding Red XIII... As a species, he seems to exhibit both large-cat-like and large-wolf-like traits, but I don't believe any large cats howl. As a result I tend to use wolf and lupine terms to refer to him. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.**

**Hope you like it! Feedback and comments welcome!**


	20. For Better Or Worse

**Oh gosh, what a week. I am up late tonight for a plethora of reasons, and since it is now officially Sunday on the East Coast, I am posting the chapter on the most technically-on-time I will ever managed to be. :P I have barely gotten any writing done this week, still dealing with the last lingering remnants of the cold that would not die. Seriously, I would give real money for anyone to develop a vaccine for this crap, I don't ever want it again. But, yeah, I'm mostly better now, and hopefully the words will flow better now that I'm not hacking up a lung every hour.**

**Comments!  
setokayba2n: Funny you should mention that... as mentioned in-story, there is currently a planned set of omake chapters, to be referred to as Ranma's Fun Time Story Hour. These will be little snippets, probably posted mid-week between main chapters as they become ready. Keep an eye out. :)  
doraemax: The Prez does most of his big-baddery pre-story and behind the scenes. He is definitely a capable villain, a dangerous and cunning mind, and a ruthless and terrifying corporate ruler. However, all that doesn't necessarily equate to martial strength. He's not going to be engaging in an epic struggle with _Reeve Tuesti_, much less Sephiroth. This isn't to diminish him in the least, but the story is in many ways more action-oriented than this. Rufus, however, will have a... somewhat more involved role as the tale progresses. Keep watching :)**

**Just as an update, there will probably be a bit of a slowdown in updates after about the first week of April. FF7 Remake aside, I have at least one convention I plan to attend in the coming months and there will be some prepwork needed for it. I will most likely be slowing to a bi-weekly update schedule around that point, omake stuff aside. Anyway, please enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter Twenty

For Better Or Worse

[ ν ] - εγλ 0007, December 12

* * *

The creature that appeared was hideous by any standard; only vaguely humanoid, but mutated beyond even what Ranma had grown used to from the monsters occupying the darker sections of the slums in the last few weeks. Standing almost three meters tall, the top and front of its head was smooth, polished bone, exposing the muscles holding the jaw in place. The creature was covered in loose leather patches, draped across its body like armor, but didn't seem to be well secured to anything. The body had swollen oddly, even as the arms remained clearly human, though the lower arms were spindly and almost devoid of any visible muscle. The hands ended in long claws, and seemed further out of proportion, as if the hands had been stretched more than the other parts of the body. A number of green materia spheres appeared to have been planted inside its body, its arms, and legs. The legs looked like a bodybuilder had gone off the deep end and never stopped doing squats, ever. All of these details paled slightly in comparison to the long, blood-stained slab of barely-beveled metal dragging against the ground behind it, sparking slightly along the ground as it strode forward, its pace steady and determined.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me," Ranma grumbled. "Okay, everyone, let's…"

Ranma didn't get a chance to finish. The creature raised the willow-thin arm holding the metal slab and swung hard, the overhead strike impacting against the ground so hard that the shockwave knocked everyone to the ground. Immediately afterwards, the specimen unleashed an unearthly howling, a scream of pure, incomprehensible pain, which caused most of them to reel in agony until the sound faded.

Barret returned to his feet first, joined shortly by Cloud. "The hell is that thing?" Barret shouted.

"Looks like some kind of SOLDIER experiment," Cloud answered, drawing his blade.

Barret glanced at the creature inside the observation tank, and then back at Cloud. "That _thing_ is a SOLDIER?" he asked incredulously.

"No time!" Tifa interrupted, as the other regained their feet as well, noting that the creature seemed to square its stance in preparation for them. "Bitch about it later, we gotta take that thing out!"

Cloud turned to the others and gave a nod. "Everyone, get in, do what you can. Keep an eye on that sword arm." And with that, he dashed into combat, followed by the others.

The specimen seemed even larger up close. Cloud ignored the size advantage and stayed in front, slashing at targets of opportunity, but mostly keeping his weapon ready to parry or defend the others against the enormous weapon it carried. Red followed closely behind, savagely tearing at the creature's legs and lower body with its powerful lupine fangs and claws, occasionally retreating to range to fling Fire at the creature. Barret took up a position near the perimeter, firing high at the upper body of the monstrous specimen, keeping its attention divided, and taking care to cease fire when the others attempted anything acrobatic. Aerith came in, spinning her newly-recovered staff around, letting it build up momentum before smashing the weighted tips of the staff into the creature's joints and any open wounds left by the others. Tifa and Ranma strode in side-by-side, circling each other as they moved in nearly flawless concert, a spinning blur of leaping airborne limbs and rapid blows that struck the specimen over and over again.

Roaring in pain and confusion, the specimen hissed out a dark, misty cloud that seemed to hang in the air. "Don't breathe it, it's poison!" Red called out, but it had been a moment too late for some of them. Ranma felt her stomach churn, and her vision seemed to dim at the edges. Looking around, she could see that Red had been affected as well, despite his warning. Barret returned his aim on the monstrosity, unleashing a torrent of ammunition into the creation's body as Aerith flung Fire across the chamber.

Ranma charged in, determined to do what she could before the poison ran its course. She delivered a series of kicks to the creature's midsection, before leaping backward, narrowly avoiding a slow but heavy blow from the clawed right hand. Her breathing already becoming ragged, she eschewed any chi techniques and opted for full force, her blows landing as hard as possible against the best targets as they became available to her range. Unfortunately, the dimmed vision cost her, as she took a hard backhanded swing from the reedy left limb, sending her tumbling to the side.

Aerith watched her sensei fall to the ground, and growled in defiance, stepping forward and leaping up, swinging her staff overhead like a hammer, and dropping the weighted tip sharply down on one of the specimen's enormous, misshapen toes. The sound of bone breaking immediately greeted the ears of those around, and the specimen howled in rage. Aerith turned rapidly and leaped again, smashing another toe on the opposite foot. The specimen swiped at her with its free hand, but Aerith darted between its legs, spinning her staff again to smash hard at the knee from behind, causing the creature to drop low as it tried to chase after her.

"Cloud!" Tifa yelled, grabbing the former SOLDIER's attention. "Fastball!"

Cloud turned his head to meet Tifa's eyes, nodded, and hopped backwards out of the creature's range. He spun his Buster Sword in his hands once, the spine of the sword facing outward as Tifa leaped into the air overhead. Rotating in a graceful somersault, she turned herself to point her feet just past Cloud's shoulders, as Cloud began a deliberately aimed swing of the massive blade. The blunt edge met Tifa's boots, and she curled into a crouch. Cloud's swing continued, launching Tifa forward across the distance separating her from their foe. Barret's gun was briefly silenced, as Tifa uncurled her body mid-flight and struck a crushing blow, an overhead spinning heel kick at an appreciable fraction of the speed of sound, causing the skull to crack audibly. Cloud rushed in with barely a blink and swung the sword's blunt side upward, meeting Tifa's kick in the middle, sending splinters of chipped bone cascading around the floor. Before the specimen could react, Cloud turned the blade sharply to one side and swung upwards hard, carving through the creature's lower left arm, dropping it to the ground in front of them.

The creature screamed an inarticulate cry of rage, and swung its enormous slab of steel at Cloud, who was unable to get the Buster Sword between himself and the blow before it landed. Cloud was sent flying straight through the doorway, and skidded to a halt on the grating. "Cloud!" Tifa screamed as she landed, turning to duck beneath a clumsy swipe of the left stump arm, running out of the field of battle and frantically pouring her mana into a Cure spell.

Ranma staggered to her feet, still woozy and unbalanced, her vision blurred from the poison wracking her body, every step bringing a fresh dose of pain. She stumbled forward, and saw the 'specimen' lining up for another blow, this time on Red. Despite the fresh surge of agony, she darted forward and pulled him bodily out of the way of the blow, which crashed down into the ground a moment later, denting the metal plates of the specimen tank floor. The effort was significant for her, as she coughed and felt bile rising in her throat.

Tifa charged back in, followed by Cloud. She stepped forward and for a brief moment her fists glowed, unleashing her **Beat Rush** on the creature, followed by a **Somersault** kick that connected hard with the creature's chin. Cloud slid underneath Tifa's leap as she retreated and struck with a three-piece **Cross Slash**, opening the creature's lower torso as it released what looked less like blood and more like toxic sludge from the wound. Staggering forward, it tried again to swing at the assembled targets, determined to take someone with it.

At that moment, Red charged around the room, weaving between the others as he built up speed, the air bending around him as he accelerated. His **Sled Fang** fully charged, he leaped forward, colliding with the creature and smashing through its torso, leaving a gaping hole in the chest. The specimen finally toppled backwards, crashing to the ground with a resounding thud.

Red limped out from behind the corpse of the monster, whose body had already begun to visibly decompose. Tifa immediately ran to Red's side, uncorking an Antidote and holding it out for him. He tilted his head back and allowed her to pour it into her mouth. "Thank you," he said, "but the girl needs greater help than I."

All eyes suddenly turned to Ranma, curled up on the ground and shivering. "Oh Goddess," Aerith whispered, looking at the girl's pale skin. She stepped forward and took a deep breath, turning her staff in a circle and holding it across her body as she exhaled. As she blew out her breath, it seemed to magnify the surrounding air currents, sending a **Healing Wind **across the gathered party. Cloud pulled out another Antidote and crouched down, curling one arm underneath Ranma's head, holding her steady as he poured the liquid down her throat.

Red stepped to Ranma's other side, and placed a heavy paw in the center of her chest. "She's still breathing," he said. "She ought to make it."

In response, Ranma's eyes fluttered open. She glanced around and saw everyone's eyes on her, expressions ranging from concerned to upset. "Somethin' happen?" she croaked out.

"Oh, Ranma!" Aerith cried out, slipping to her knees and embracing the redhead fondly. "Thought we'd lost you."

"Jeez, shrimp," Barret grumbled, "try not cutting it so close next time."

Ranma thought back to the battle. "Oh… yeah, I heard something about poison?" she said quietly.

"Yeah, how do you feel now?" Cloud asked her.

She chuckled weakly. "Like I went twelve rounds with my pops and only _tied_ somehow."

"Can you walk?" Aerith prompted.

"I'll damn well walk out of _here_," she answered, slowly pulling herself to her feet. "Just don't ask me to fight any more… whatever the hell that thing is… was…" Ranma stumbled, dropping to one knee. She slowly pushed herself up from the ground, overbalanced, and ended up landing hard on her rear. "Better yet, don't ask me to fight any small yappy dogs, how about that?"

"I sincerely hope that last comment was not directed at me," Red said, a tone of mock indignation surrounding his words, but he gave a canine smile afterwards anyway.

"I'll carry the girl," Barret declared, reaching out with his good hand to help Ranma to her feet again. He then turned to Red. "So, what are you, anyway?"

Red looked thoughtful, sitting up straight. "An informed question, to be sure," he said calmly. "But a difficult one to answer. I am what you see, and nothing more."

"Great, another philosopher," he muttered to himself, as he hoisted Ranma effortlessly over his left shoulder.

Red ignored the comment, and stepped forward to Aerith. "My apologies for my behavior when we first met," he said politely, looking up at her. "I acted in order to take Hojo off his guard. It appeared to have worked, until he summoned that monstrosity. I assure you, no harm was intended to you." He bowed his head.

Aerith smiled, and patted his head gently. "Accepted."

"Right, great, lovely. Now that's all done," Barret called out to everyone, lifting Ranma over one shoulder, "we ain't got no more reason to be here no more. Let's get the hell out!"

"Not gonna... torch the place... on the way out?" Ranma asked weakly.

"Aerith's safe, and you're wounded," Tifa answered, shaking her head. "We got in once, and we've proved we're stronger than their defenses. We'll retreat for now, lay low in the slums, make a plan, then come back when we're in top shape and we'll topple this place with our bare hands."

"Right," Cloud agreed. "Hojo came from this direction, there must be a stairwell. We can get down to sixty-six and take the express elevator down to fifty-nine. From there, we can get out the main entrance and make our way from there."

"What about Shinra's security?" Red inquired. "Many eyes lie between here and there."

Tifa shook her head again. "Not anymore they don't," she said, grinning. "Cloud and I fried the security lines about fifteen minutes ago and locked them all inside. We should have a clean getaway."

"All right, then, enough chatter," Barret declared. "Let's roll!"

**Floor 66**

"There," Cloud said, pointing to the executive elevators on the outer wall of the building. "Almost out."

Despite her injury, Ranma felt a twinge in her senses, a discordant note, something difficult to articulate. Regardless, she had a feeling that something was out of place. "No," she whispered, unheard. She glanced around from her awkward vantage point, slung over Barret's left shoulder. Nothing.

"Get inside!" Barret shouted, gesturing to the others. He stood, turned his back to the hallway, and gestured for the others to cram into the elevator.

"No…" Ranma croaked, seeing Red pad into the elevator, followed by Tifa. She tried to shift her arms or do something to alert Barret, but he didn't notice…

Rude.

Stepping into the elevator behind Barret.

"Would you press up, please?" Rude said politely, pulling out a gleaming chrome-plated pistol. Barret turned around, and saw the gun. "If you move your right arm, there will be a mess," he warned, raising the gun to Barret's chest.

The elevator door opened again, and Tseng stepped inside the already crowded elevator. "A merry chase, to be sure," he said, drawing his own pistol from his coat, and pointing it squarely at Tifa. "Did you enjoy the thrill while it lasted?"

"Fuck you," Barret spat, but did not move. "Do what you came here to do, ya damn killers."

"Fortunately for you," Tseng said, reaching out with his free hand to press the button for floor 69, "coating the inside of this elevator with your blood is only 'what we came here to do' if you make a scene. Otherwise, plans will proceed differently." The ride upward passed in tense silence, until the elevator made a cheerful 'ding', and the doors opened.

"Everybody out, yo," a familiar voice called. The crackle of electricity accompanied the words. "Oh, and if it isn't Miss I'm-Better-Than-You. Not lookin' better right now, are ya?"

"Only cuz…" Ranma coughed and spat on the ground. "Only cuz I fought against somethin' _tough_ for once, Reno," she answered, grinning despite herself. "You went to all this effort, just to ask me your stupid questions? Coulda just come by the church and got your hat handed to ya again." In response, Reno collapsed the baton, squeezed the grip firmly, and punched Ranma hard across the face. Ranma spat to clear the blood from her lips. "And _that_ was the first time you landed a blow against me... I'm actually embarassed for ya. It took somethin' else kickin' my ass nearly to unconsciousness for ya to actually score a hit yourself. You're pathetic." Another punch, harder, the sound of the meaty strike echoing oddly through the small antechamber in the office building. "Reno, take it from someone who knows," she continued, giggling despite herself, "you _hit like a girl._"

Reno cracked a cruel looking smile, leaning down to pull Ranma's hair sharply, holding up her head at an awkward angle. "Gotta admit, girly, you are one tough cookie." He glanced up at the nearest trooper. "Cuff 'em."

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The assembled crew were led at gunpoint up the stairs to the 70th floor. The walls were sparse and minimalist, mostly supportive structures for the roof, allowing the majority of the floor to be covered in windows, allowing an unparalleled view of the city below. A few pieces of art and diagrams of the city adorned the walls. An enormous table occupied fully half of the space between the floor-to-ceiling windows lining the back wall.

Sitting at the desk was Rupert Shinra, president of the Shinra Electric Power Corporation, and _de facto_ ruler of most of the known world, even if he declined publicly to refer to himself as such. "Ah, guests," he welcomed them with a magnanimous tone. "You'll forgive me if I don't offer you drinks."

Ranma, still woozy from the aftermath of the toxin she had inhaled, and the disruption of her balance from the heavy duty cuffs she had been thrust into, grinned weakly. "I'll take a water, if someone can get me a straw," she said quietly.

"Where'd you take Aerith?" Cloud demanded. Ranma glanced around; indeed, Aerith was not standing with them.

"She's safe," Shinra declared, standing from his desk and pacing towards them as he spoke. "Safer here, perhaps, than anywhere else on Gaia. I'm sure you already know the girl is an Ancient. As far as we can tell, the last Ancient."

Red's ears perked up, and he padded forward. "The girl is of the Cetra tribe?" he asked, genuinely interested.

Shinra looked at Red. "Ah, a fellow scholar," he beamed.

Red glared at the man, his one yellow eye burning with an odd fury. "Your approval fills me with shame."

Shinra frowned, and turned away from the canid. "Yes, they called themselves Cetra. Thousands of years ago they shared this world with humans. And over time, they died out. It is said in their history that they will lead us all to the Promised Land, a place of fertile soil, teeming with life."

"That's not just a myth?" Red inquired, cocking his head to one side.

The president shrugged, reaching into his pocket to remove a small cigar case. "Might be," he admitted, popping the case open and pulling out a cigar. "But the idea of such a place, somewhere in the world, it's simply... far too appealing... not to pursue to some conclusion. After all, if the land is so fertile…"

"Mako," Barret spat out. "It's all about mako for you, isn't it?"

"Quite," Shinra agreed, lighting his cigar. "With our reactors in place, the mako will flow like water. And so too shall profits. That is where Neo-Midgar will be built. A land of endless profit and power, mine for the taking."

"You're dreamin', asshole!" Barret yelled, struggling with the restraints even as Rude held him in place.

"Haven't you figured it out?" Shinra stepped forward, face to face with Barret, and exhaled the cigar smoke into his face. "Midgar is the place where anyone can pursue their dreams. All it takes to realize one's dreams is money, power, and the will to make it all happen. I happen to possess all three. And this is the last time that AVALANCHE will interfere in my goals." He took another drag on his cigar, and then flicked it sharply into Barret's face, the ash and sparks singing his forehead. "That's all for the meeting. Please speak to my secretary if you have any questions."

"Hold it, you little shit," Barret demanded, as Rude pulled hard on the restraints, leading him out despite his struggle to advance on the president. "I got some things to say to you!"

Tseng and Rude drew their weapons, and Elena stepped forward as well. "President Shinra is being kind enough to provide you a place to stay for the evening," Elena said, pressing the barrel to his temple. "Or we could take you and your friends out to the balcony and show you the way out of the building. Your call, big boy."

Barret gritted his teeth in frustration, but allowed himself to be led away. The others followed suit, led away at gunpoint by the Turks, as President Shinra paced back to his desk.

* * *

**A/N: Looks like the gang is in a pickle!**

**The original boss fight is with a creature called Sample:H0512. I swear to gods I hate that name. It's boring, it's unimaginative, it does nothing to convey anything about the enemy. About the only thing that could be said in its favor is that it's name is no more exciting than the bossfight it is appelated to. But regardless, I was not writing out that boring a name every time I wanted to refer to this thing. I also kind of thought that the fight itself was... not thematically appropriate.**

**_This_ fight is against a failed attempt to create a better SOLDIER formula. It's worth mentioning that the only major point at which it failed is in keeping the subject in a 'human' base form. All of the other parameters of SOLDIER are present (theoretically capable of obeying orders, absurd power and durability, and broadly capable of rational and tactical thought). The design is based on a combination of a Cloud-like entity with... well... Nemesis, from Resident Evil. Read into that what you will. I had actually written a basic framework for a fight between Sample H and the party, which was the original version of this chapter up until about the turn of the year, when I realized I was unsatisfied with it. **** So... I took some time and rewrote the first half of the chapter.**

**A note regarding the mechanics behind the Cure spell and other restoratives. For the purposes of my story, Cure magic heals wounds, closes cuts and punctures, and knits bone (assuming they're at least properly set). What it does _not_ do is replace lost blood, remove infections suffered from untreated wounds, regrow limbs (Barret), restore missing chunks of the body (Vincent), or anything regarding the _secondary_ effects of such wounds. If you bled out during a fight and were Cured afterward, you will still be dealing with _symptoms_ of blood loss until your body can replenish your fluids. If you are poisoned and then given an Antidote, Cure undoes the damage, but does nothing for the fatigue or muscular pains or whatever else the toxins might have afflicted. In short, Cure is not a 'cure-all', but it can be used to treat minor to moderate injuries, and it can be used to sustain one's life in an emergency situation until proper medical treatment can be brought to bear. Hence, Ranma is still dealing with the echoes of the Poison status he had been hit with here and is not in a position to be fighting, in his words, 'even a small yappy dog'. This is also why the Turks were back on their feet so soon after having Ranma sicced on them; since Ranma held back, the long-term damage to the Turks was minimal, though enough at the time to incapacitate them.**

**Also, on a strictly personal point, I had so much fun writing the exchange between Reno and Rude here. **

**Hope you like it! Comments and feedback welcome!**


	21. Five Cells

**Another week, another chapter. There were a lot of comments regarding Ranma feeling like he'd been nerfed in the fight with the SOLDIER prototype, and I agree that I may have taken that a bit further than I'd intended. As far as his susceptibility to the Poison status goes, I'd tried to go with the idea that the more active Ranma was being, the more damage it would do to him, which is why Red wasn't hurt as significantly by it. This is actually a mechanic used in several FF games, so I didn't think it was going to be a large leap to take, but re-reading the chapter, I may not have demonstrated that as well as I'd hoped. Chapter 20 will probably have a bit of an edit to address these matters in the coming weeks as a result. I do appreciate your comments in helping me to make this story as good as it can be.**

**As far as the story feeling too close to the original... I mentioned before that the story will follow FF7's plot at points. The Midgar section is taking this path fairly solidly. Shinra's reactions are being strengthened in response to the changes. I can assure you that even as the path ahead looks familiar, there will be some changes to come, both subtle and significant. Some of these changes may even surprise you.**

**Death of Snipers and NightmareKnight1: These are both very, very good questions that I will not answer yet due to some future plot points.  
Mr Haziq: There will definitely be a reckoning of sorts as we continue. Ranma is a bit idealistic in some ways, even in the face of this world, but even he has limits to his mercy and good will.  
Z.L.C. genesmith: The Promised Land is, at least as canon goes, more of a euphemism for death and the afterlife than an actual physical place. That being said... well... there's more going on here.**

**Onward!**

* * *

Chapter Twenty One

Five Cells

[ ν ] - εγλ 0007, December 13

* * *

_Cloud and Tifa_

"Won't budge," Cloud said, having bruised his shoulder against the door. He sat down, wincing, and rubbed his shoulder. "My guess is that they tested these cells against SOLDIERs to make sure they'd hold up." He took a breath, and sighed, holding one hand to his face.

"Don't give up, Cloud," Tifa urged him on. "I know you can take care of this."

Cloud nodded. "What the President was talking about... " he shook his head. "He can't be serious."

"What do you mean?"

"Sephiroth said the same thing… years ago." Cloud leaned back against the wall, stretching out his legs across the floor. "He said… that he was going to go to the Promised Land. But he was going to crush the rest of us… all the humans that betrayed him."

"Cloud…"

"I looked up to him. I idolized him. He's why I joined SOLDIER. And he turns out to be the worst of the lot…"

"You're not him, you know," Tifa said firmly. "You may have looked up to him, but he doesn't control you."

"I know… but I still feel… betrayed." Cloud let out a sigh, and leaned back against the wall. "He did so much to you, to me… our home… our families… and it's like his spirit is following us. We went our own ways, after that… and I did everything I could to get past… what happened. But I couldn't. Everywhere I went, it was like he followed me. I still feel it some days. And now that speech from the president, and it's like he's right behind me."

Tifa curled up on the cot. "I… know how you feel, Cloud," she said quietly. "I dealt with a lot… after. When I woke up, I wasn't even in Nibelheim anymore… Zangan had patched me up as best he could. But I was still out cold for over a week. And in that time he carried me all the way to Junon. I woke up, saw his face, and fell asleep again… and I didn't wake up again for another week and a half after that. By then, I was here, I was recovering, and I had nowhere else to go. Zangan had left while I slept, and…"

Cloud looked up at her. "...Tifa?"

Tifa took a deep breath, trying to steady herself. "I thought you were dead, Cloud. I thought you were dead _for five years!_ I still don't know _how_ you survived! How _any _of us survived! And I swear, even right now I'm worried you're going to be a ghost or something. And I'm going to wake up one day from this dream to find I'm on my last breath, laying there on the reactor floor in the mountains, with Sephiroth's blade through my chest. And that'll be the end of me." She shuddered. "Dreaming of another struggle in a far away land… while I bleed out on the floor."

Cloud stared at her. "Tifa…" he said quietly, standing up and resting one hand on the brunette's shoulder. "You are real. As much as I wish otherwise, this place is real. I'm real. And we're really getting out of here. All of us, together."

"...Cloud?"

"But doesn't look like it's gonna be tonight," he admitted. "I don't think I'll be able to punch through that thing at full strength either, but it's a better chance then, than I have now."

Tifa nodded. A long quiet moment passed between the two of them. Then Tifa looked up at Cloud again. "Cloud, why did you invite those two to join us, anyway?"

"Hm?"

"That's... not like you," she continued softly. "You've always been... very independent, stubbornly so. But you got caught up with those two, and then you brought them to the bar to join us, after knowing them for all of, what, thirty minutes?" Tifa threw up her hands in confusion. "Why the change of heart?"

Cloud considered the question. "I saw how Ranma fought," he said. "It reminded me of how you fight. I thought you two might get along, maybe learn from each other... Aerith, I thought that if Shinra was after her, being with a group fighting them would be safer than anywhere else she might try to hole up these days. And..." he paused.

"...and?"

He took a deep breath. "I thought that if they were half as good as you think I am, that maybe you wouldn't need me around."

Tifa looked at him in genuine shock. "Wait... what?"

"I..." he sighed. "I wanted to leave again."

Tifa looked at him. "Why? I thought you were starting to like being around me- us, again."

Cloud waved one hand vaguely. "It's not that, Tifa," he responded. "I wanted to keep that promise I made to you. But I didn't feel like I was worth all that hope you put on me. I still don't. I mean, look at us, we're here in prison, at Shinra's whim. I don't want to give up, but I... just feel like I'm letting you down. Part of me wants to get out before I fail badly enough to make you hate me." He thumped the wall with one fist. "I thought if they were good enough, I could leave without letting you down."

"Cloud..." Tifa said quietly, but before either of them could say anything else...

"Hello, hello?" a woman's voice sounded through the wall.

"Aerith?" Tifa and Cloud cried out simultaneously.

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_Barret and Red_

"You won't be able to get through the door, you know," Red said quietly.

"Ain't gonna stop me from tryin'!" Barret answered, throwing his full weight against the door.

"And if you break your arm?" Red offered. "Would that stop you from trying?"

"Gotta spare one over here," he said, shrugging. Red shook his head gently, and curled up on the floor. "Hey, what's your story, anyway?"

"I have no story."

"Bullshit," Barret countered. "Everybody got a story. You don't wanna tell me, that's your business. Don't mean you ain't got one."

Red considered this for a long moment. "What is it you want to know, then?"

Barret looked at him, then rolled his eyes. "How about how you got here? We found you in Hojo's lab, but the way you go on, I don't think you were born there."

"That, at least, is an astute conclusion," Red confirmed. "I was born a long way from here, and I came to be here because the alternative was for... someone else... to take my place."

Barret nodded. "You surrendered yourself, so they could get away?" When Red nodded in answer, "Yeah… been in situations like that before. But I don't surrender. Fought my way out of it instead. Shinra ain't never kept their word to me before, and I ain't about to give 'em another chance to stab me in the back."

Red shook his head. "I was not strong enough, then, to fight," he explained. "The men who came for us were powerful, armed and prepared to do battle, but their leader was honorable. Had I chosen to fight, I would have died, forgotten and unsung. And she would still be here in my place. Instead, I bargained for her life with my own. Their leader kept his word, she was able to complete the work we had both set out to do, and then I came here with them. I am no coward, but I know that battle is not the only way to achieve victory."

"S'pose that depends on whatcha call winning," Barret responded, thoughtfully. "So, whaddya know about the Ancients, anyway? You were talkin' to that Shinra asshole like y'all went to the same school or somethin'."

"I can assure you," Red replied with a contemptuous tone, "the likelihood of a man like that learning in the same place as I is slim."

"Fine, fine, whatever. And the Ancients?"

"The _Cetra_," Red corrected with a pointed tone. "They existed alongside humans, thousands of years ago. They were supposedly wiped out by some great calamity that affected them, but left the humans of the world unharmed. Clearly, if the girl is a Cetra survivor, that history is to be called into question as well."

"What about the Promised Land he was yammerin' on about?"

"In truth, I don't know what he believes, but…" Red sat thoughtfully, his tail curling around his toes. "All of the records my tribe hold on the Cetra agree that the Promised Land was a myth. A fertile land of infinite happiness... most likely a metaphor for some afterlife. In this era, with Shinra's planes and ships circling the globe and their SOLDIERs in every town… You would think they might have found such a place by now."

Barret considered that for a moment. "Unless he thinks they closed it up behind them," he observed. Red looked up at him, a curious expression on his face. "Well, think about it," he said. "Whole group o' people goes away however long ago. A few of their survivors still walk Gaia, but the rest vanished mysteriously, and no humans went with them wherever they go. An' their stories tell you they were goin' to this Promised Land or whatever. Maybe it's hidden. One door in, one door out. And you gotta be a member o' the club to know how to get in."

Red cocked his head, his expression somehow conveying both disbelief and deep consideration. "In all the stories told by my tribe, nobody had put forward such a theory. You saying it aloud makes it sound so simple. But I cannot believe that the world operates that way."

"Why, cuz a dummy like me said it?"

"Not at all," he replied. "Even a fool may enlighten a king. It's because if you're right, then this world is much, much different than history would lead us to believe."

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_Ranma, and Aerith_

Ranma wasn't given to pacing. On the other hand, the room she was in didn't really allow for pacing either. All of three strides long in any direction, and even then her movement was severely hampered by the shackles cuffing her feet together, and her balance further disrupted by the fact that they'd left the hand-enclosing cuffs on her, holding her arms firmly behind her back. With her arms behind her back, and her hands completely covered, most of her chi techniques were going to be locked off to her or at least heavily hampered. Coupled with the short chain keeping her ankles bound, and she couldn't build up enough momentum to do much in the way of damage or escape attempts. She had to hand it to the Turks. It took them a few tries before they really took her seriously, but when they did they went all out with it.

She sat down on the cot, considered her best angle, and banged her cuffs against the wall behind her as hard as she could. She was very surprised to hear a voice immediately afterwards.

"Is someone there?" the voice spoke from the other side of the wall.

Ranma nearly fell off the cot. "Aerith!"

"Ranma! I'm so glad you're safe!"

"Wouldn't go that far, but I'm alive, yeah." She sat back down on the cot. "They took you away before dragging us in front of the president. We didn't even know if you were still alive."

"Yeah, I honestly worried that they had taken you somewhere to execute you all… Is anyone else in there with you?"

"Nah, they locked me in here and cuffed me for good measure." She smirked to herself. "They finally caught on to the fact that I ain't just an ordinary girl. Tolja they would, though it took Reno's dumb ass longer than I thought."

"Why were you antagonizing him like that?" Aerith's concern was audible even through the wall. "You could have been hurt or killed, he might have done it just out of spite!"

Ranma smiled. "Because… every moment they had their attention focused on _me_, was one moment more that it wasn't on you or any of the others. I don't know if it could have made a difference, but if it did, you coulda got away, or maybe Barret coulda just grabbed me by the legs and swung me around like a club. The point is, for those ten or fifteen seconds, you weren't in danger."

"But _you_ were!"

"Yeah, but that was the point. I can take it, Aerith," Ranma answered gently, stretching out her legs on the cot. "I know how to take it. Any fighter worth their salt knows how to deal with bein' hit, with bein' struck, with taking a fall, with the pain and physical stress. I may be younger than you, but I'm a _bit_ tougher than you are. And when I said Reno hits like a girl up there, I was bein' _nice_. I know at least... five girls who hit a lot harder than he does, and you're on that list."

Aerith giggled, the sound muffled through the wall. "You really are incredible, Ranma," she said. "I don't know if I'd be half this brave without the training you put me through."

Ranma smiled, then thought for a moment. "So... what exactly did you do to Tseng to get Elmyra free, anyway?"

The moment of tension between question and answer was palpable. "I did something stupid. It worked, but it wasn't the smartest thing I've ever done. It was... probably the most reckless thing I've done in my whole life." Aerith's voice quavered a bit, as she finally said, "I held myself hostage."

Ranma blinked in confusion. "You... what?" she glanced up reflexively, as if that would help her see or hear Aerith better. "How?"

"I grabbed Tseng's gun," she said quietly. "And I put it to _my_ head. They wanted me, and they wanted me alive. I wanted to make sure that Mom and Marlene were okay. So... I took myself out of the equation. I told Tseng to let Elmyra and Marlene go, or he'd lose his prize forever. It... worked... but... the alternative..." the brunette's sigh was audible even through the wall. "Tseng caved. I got what I wanted out of the exchange, and unfortunately for me, he got what he wanted. But Mom was safe. And Marlene was safe. I knew I couldn't have looked Barret in the eye ever again if I'd managed to get that little girl hurt, and I'd never forgive _myself_ if anything happened to Mom."

Ranma nodded as her understanding grew. "You did good, Aerith," she said finally. "We met up with Elmyra after the... after the fight. She's safe, Elmyra's safe, and Barret got to say hello to the girl too. You really pulled it out. In the end, _I'm_ the one who screwed it all up."

Aerith's voice changed to one of concern. "Do you need to talk about it?"

Ranma let out a sigh. "Last night, I... saw someone die," she said, her voice cracking some as she said the words aloud. "I've... never seen anyone die. When we were about to go up to help Cloud and Barret... Wedge fell off the tower. He said something to me, and then he died. And..." she took a deep breath. "I hesitated. I lost... my confidence, whatever, it just... everything felt wobbly, unreal, for a bit. I felt like I'd failed. And I did fail. But I stopped, for all of thirty seconds down there on the ground, and that caused me an' Tifa to fail again. I... Tifa had to stop to get my dumb ass back on target, which meant we didn't get up to the top of the tower fast enough. Which meant that Shinra an' the Turks... dropped a billion tons of metal and concrete on the slums. And thousands of people died. And that's something I'm gonna have to live with for the rest of my life."

Aerith was silent for a long moment. "Ranma... that's not your fault."

"Isn't it?" she countered harshly, struggling to keep her emotions at bay.

"No!" Aerith repeated, adamant. "You did _not_ kill Wedge. You did _not_ drop the plate. That's Shinra. You start taking responsibility for what they're doing, and they've already won. They wanted to drop the living conditions of everyone in the slums on me, they dragged AVALANCHE's name through the mud even though they're trying to save the world from being killed by the reactors. You better not try to do that job for them. You did everything you could, I'm sure of it. Sometimes you can do everything right, and still fail."

Ranma blinked at those words. She turned them back and forth in her head, and considered that there may be something to it. "Thank you, Aerith."

"You're welcome, Ranma."

"So..." Ranma trailed off for a moment. "What's all this stuff about Ancients?"

There was a long moment of silence after that question. "So you found out."

"Yeah... El Presidente spilled the beans upstairs," she answered. "Somethin' about usin' you to get to the 'Promised Land' and get infinite rice pudding or something stupid like that."

Aerith giggled again. "You are such a goof sometimes," she said. "But… yeah, I knew that's why they wanted me. They want me to talk to Gaia for them."

"They want you to _talk _to the _planet_?" Ranma asked, incredulous.

"That's what we were supposed to do… the Cetra- I mean, the Ancients. My mother taught me that we are born from the planet, we speak to the planet, and we unlock the planet. And when our duty to the planet is done, we will return to the Promised Land, a place of supreme happiness where the land is fertile and peaceful, and flowers bloom eternally. I… always thought I would stop hearing her voice as I grew older. But I hear her even now."

Ranma thought about that for a long time. "We'll get out of this," she said. "Trust me."

"I know." There was a long silence after that. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Ranma asked.

"I think there's someone in the next cell. Hello, hello?"

-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-

_Aerith, Tifa and Cloud_

"Oh thank goddess you're safe," Tifa said aloud. "We didn't know what had happened to you after the elevator."

"What about Ranma?" Cloud asked. "She with you?"

"She's in the next cell over from me," Aerith answered. "She's still cuffed and shackled, so she can't do much right now. Barret and Red?"

"Same on our side, they're in the next cell," Tifa replied. "We heard Barret beating on the door earlier, so we're pretty sure he's all right."

Cloud frowned. "If Ranma can't break free of the cuffs, they must be using the SOLDIER tech on her," he muttered.

"Wait, what?" Aerith's muffled voice coincided with Tifa's question.

Cloud nodded. "Shinra developed SOLDIER-level restraints, for those occasions when a SOLDIER goes rogue or something. I have no idea what they're made of, but we got shown some of them in training. Someone dropped a cubic meter of lead on one of them, and there wasn't a mark on them. They're magic proof, as far as I know. I don't think she'll be able to get out of them easily."

"I'm so sorry you all got captured on my account. I never should have gotten you all involved in my problems."

"Aerith, that's completely unfair," Tifa countered. "We've been fighting them for months, and we're still going to fight them. You had your own issues with Shinra. You didn't get us in any more hot water than we were already in."

"Besides, we're going to get out of this," Cloud added. "We'll get through it together, we'll get somewhere safe, and then we'll make our plans from there. And we're going to get Shinra for all of this."

There was a pause. "Thank you, Tifa, Cloud," Aerith replied. "I think I'm just tired at this point… I don't even know what time it is, I must have been awake for almost a whole day right now."

"Yeah, I got a look at a clock when we came in," Cloud said, suppressing a yawn, "and it was just after midnight then. It's been at least an hour since, though. We should all try to get some rest. Gonna need our strength when it matters."

-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-

…_another cell…_

It had been years since others had gotten so close. There was always something in the way… a door, a wall, a _continent_... but now, so close, the _strength..._ renewed. The will was _always_ there. It was time.

Time for the Reunion to begin.

Time to _go_...

* * *

**A/N: Five girls who can hit harder than Reno: Ukyo, Shampoo, Akane, Tifa, and now Aerith. Her training is paying off, as you might have noticed in the previous chapter. You'll have a chance to see it again in a few more chapters. I got something big planned...**

**Not a lot going on in this chapter... in fairness, not a lot _can_ happen in this chapter, and that's kind of the point. After the intense first half of the 'rescue' arc, this is the downtime while the stakes get escalated. Soon, the Ryoka will break into the Seireitei and do everything they can to rescue Rukia Kuchiki- wait... wrong story. Sorry. ^_^;**

**Hope you like it! Comments and feedback welcome!**


	22. Prodigal

**So, we begin to draw close to the end of the Midgar section of the story. This has been a long time coming. All of this, everything up to this point, has been to set the threads for the changes that Ranma is beginning to make in this world. Some of them are significant and easy to spot. ****Many of them are subtle, like [REDACTED]. There's still going to be points that touch and follow sections of the old plot, but from here we're going to be treating it... more as a set of guidelines than actual rules. :D**

**Mr. Haziq: We'll be seeing Ryoga again soon, don't you worry.  
setokayba2n: That's more Kodachi's department than Shinra's. :P I do see your point though; in this case I think the answer would be "They didn't have a full bondage cell ready to go and setting one up would be too much extra work."  
doraemax: Sorry, should have specified, "at least five girls who hit harder than Reno."**

**Real talk, who's looking forward to FF7R? It looks amazing, and the demo was a lot of fun. Here's hoping it is indeed worthy of the hype.**

* * *

Chapter Twenty Two

Prodigal

[ ν ] - εγλ 0007, December 13

* * *

Cloud woke up.

Years of military training, and further time spent living the mercenary life, had left him with a fairly accurate internal clock, so he was surprised that it had definitely not been his customary six hours. Which meant he'd been woken up. Tifa was still on the cot, resting quietly. He moved to the slot in the door, and quietly slid it open, peering out as far as he could see.

Nothing. Nobody. A single guard stood stoically at the end of the hall, helmet down over his face, an automatic weapon sitting in his hands.

Cloud blinked, and looked again.

The weapon was not in his hands. It hung limp from his neck, and his arms were by his side. The guard was asleep. This might be their best chance for escape. He pushed himself away from the door, looking around the room, and-

_Wait._

He stopped short, nearly tipping himself over with the sudden shift in motion. He turned and looked at the door carefully.

It was open.

The push had opened it.

_What?_

He darted back over to the door, pressing his face against it and peeking out through the now much broader view he had. He took a long and careful look at the guard.

The guard was not breathing.

He pushed the door open the rest of the way. No movement, no cry of alarm, nothing. Even the door itself seemed unnaturally silent, as if all sound in the area had died. He knew that Shinra had developed a limited antimagic field and used it to keep their cells secure. But this felt… different.

He stalked forward, and examined the guard's body. It was not difficult to determine the reason why he was no longer breathing; the man's ribcage was missing, as well as several internal organs. He was currently held up by his own security baton, which had been shoved almost all the way through the _concrete_ _wall_ behind him; the hand-guard was currently lodged upwards around the point of the guard's shoulders and was more or less acting as a hangar for his entire body, keeping him propped up in a grisly mockery of security. There was no sign of struggle, though judging from the long, bloody marks dragged across the floor and down the hall, the guard had not died here.

His sword lay on a table a few steps away, as did Tifa's studded gloves and Aerith's staff, in addition to everyone's materia bangles. And a keychain. He lifted his Buster Sword, placing it back home on his back, replaced his bracelet, then grabbed the other items and returned to his cell.

"Tifa," he called out.

The girl on the cot rolled sharply, nearly falling off in the process. "Bwha…?" she mumbled inarticulately.

"Door's open. Got your gloves. We need to move. Now." He tossed her the studded leather gloves and her materia bangle, and moved to the cell containing Barret and Red, unlocking it as well. "Wake up, Barret."

Barret had been asleep sitting up, his cuffs still on and locked behind him to prevent him using his gun-arm as a bludgeon. The position had effectively prevented him from achieving any comfort lying down. Red was asleep on the ground beneath the cot, curled up much like a wolf.

Barret's eyes opened. "Not gonna bother askin' how your scrawny ass broke the door down," he said quietly. "Got keys for these cuffs?"

"Let's find out," he offered, and Barret stood up to turn around. After a minute or so of testing the keys on it, one fit and sprung the cuffs loose. "Yeah, you look like you needed that," he said, passing another bangle to Barret and then to Red.

"Hell yeah, I did."

"Red, you comin' with?" Cloud asked. "We're not getting a better chance at this."

"To escape, or to fight?" he asked, padding out from beneath the cot.

"Haven't got that far yet."

Red nodded. "Seems reasonable. I shall follow you for now."

"Good," Cloud answered. "Gonna get the others. Careful of the dead body."

"The what?" Barret asked, but Cloud was already down the hall. He found the key to Aerith's cell and opened it up.

"I'm not going with you!" Aerith yelled as the door opened, then saw Cloud's face. "Oh my goddess, I didn't mean… How did you get out?"

"No time," he said, tossing the staff to her. "Get yourself ready." And moved down to the last door in the hall.

-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-

Ranma was sitting cross-legged, meditating on the cot, somehow having balanced herself there despite the cuffs and leg-chains, as the lock on the door clacked to open and Cloud entered the cell. "'Bout time we got outta here," she said, her voice soft, eyes still closed.

Cloud stared at her, confused. "You okay, Ranma?"

"Thirty seconds," she said in the same soft tone. "Others?"

"They're out here too. And there's… a mess. Not one of mine. Let me know if you need help getting past it."

Ranma nodded, expression serene. A moment later, she took a deep breath, and blinked her eyes open. "Meditation," she said by way of explanation, rotating her body slowly to show her back to Cloud. "Takes a minute to come back. Get me outta these cuffs already." Cloud nodded and stepped forward, unlocking the cuffs on her wrists before kneeling down to unfasten the ones around her ankles.

"Maybe a stupid question," Cloud asked, "but if you'd been male when they'd cuffed you, and then got splashed…"

Ranma shrugged. "Those didn't leave a lot of room to spare," she said. "In general, though, yeah, if I'm bound in a way that doesn't account for the shift in body structure I can get out pretty easily."

"Good to know," he responded. "Face the wall when you come out, trust me on this."

"Thanks, Cloud."

The two stepped out of the cell, Ranma carefully angling herself to avoid seeing the 'mess' as Cloud had put it. In doing so, she saw Aerith, who gave Ranma a quick hug. She heard the others discussing who might have done such a thing, and Red padded down the hall to check for any more guards. Ranma sidled quietly to one side, facing the wall with the cell doors they had escaped, until she saw the trail of blood leading down the hall. "Cloud…" she took a deep breath. "I know I'm going to regret this, but I'm gonna look at the mess. Just… Don't judge me if I lose it, okay?"

"I won't," Cloud said.

Ranma turned slowly to follow the lines of blood. Against the wall was a body in a Shinra uniform. She took in as much of the wounds as she could, and turned away. "Yeah, that's a big fat no," Ranma said, shutting her eyes.

"I warned you," Cloud said, but left it at that. "Hang on, Red's coming back."

Red was indeed coming back down the hallway at almost a full run. "All of you, quickly!" he shouted, gesturing with his head. He turned and started back down the hall, not waiting to see if the others followed. All five began moving down the hall.

Red stopped in front of a familiar half-sphere tank, which now had several changes from only a few hours ago. Most prominent among them were the door having been torn free, the pool of sticky blood coating the floor, and the absence of any lifeform within the tank. The trail of blood continued past the tank and to the service elevator.

"Where's the Jenova specimen?" Cloud wondered aloud. "It didn't seem as if anything like that could have burst out of there on its own, let alone done all this…"

"Cloud..." Ranma said in a nervous tone, carefully taking in the surroundings in short glances. "This is… far more blood than should be in a _single_ human body." The implications of that statement hung in the air unpleasantly.

Tifa looked at Cloud for a moment. "Shouldn't we be leaving?" she asked.

Cloud's gaze flicked between the empty security tank that had held the Jenova specimen, the smears of blood leading further into the Science Department's reaches, and the hallway leading out to the stairwell, and possibly to safety. After a long moment of contemplation, he shook his head. "Something's going on here," he said quietly. "It might be dangerous, and it could end up getting us in more trouble. But... I have to know. This feels too much like... Nibelheim."

Tifa stared at him, her eyes wide. "You... could he be here?"

"I hope not," Cloud said quietly. "But I need to find out."

Barret glanced between the two of them. "I don't like this," he said simply. "But let's go get it over with..."

The trail of blood led further. Smeared across the walls of the science department on the 68th floor, out to the stairwell and up again. The security doors no longer required any badges for access, as they had been crumpled into scrap and torn free from the walls. The continued lack of anybody, living or dead, added to an already dread atmosphere as they proceeded up to floor 69.

The carpets, already red and plush, were now matted and drenched with even more blood. Several civilian workers were dead behind their desks. Two had made it a few steps beyond that. Something had struck them dead. More blood, leading up the south stairwell. One corpse, sans head, laying at the foot of the north stairwell.

"Guys," Ranma said, trying to hold herself together, "I just want to let you know… I'm doing my best over here, but where I come from, there's a horror movie that starts like this. If those stairs start dripping blood on their own, I _will _run and I will _not _wait to see if you're following me."

"Ranma," Aerith chided. "That's not helping."

Red looked up at Ranma. "'Where you come from'?"

"Long story," she admitted. "We make it outta here, I'll catch you and everyone else up on the whole thing."

Red nodded his agreement as they crested the top of the stairwell. The trail of blood led to the desk where the president had met them earlier.

The president was there now.

And a sword, narrow, curved, and nearly two meters long, had pinned him to the desk, like a bug to a collection sheet.

Rupert Shinra, President of the Shinra Electric Power Company, was dead.

"Oh, goddess…" Aerith whispered, and turned away.

Barret looked across the penthouse office. "The leader of Shinra… dead. Whoever did it, I wanna shake their hand."

"Cloud…" Tifa breathed. "That sword…"

Cloud saw the length, the curve of the blade, the finely wrapped handle. "That's Sephiroth's blade, Masamune. He was the only one who had the skill to use it in combat."

"He's _alive_?" Tifa hissed under her breath, barely daring to make a sound, her eyes frantically darting around.

"Who cares who did it?" Barret strode forward into the middle of the office. "This is the end of Shinra! Without their leader we can tear the place down!"

There was a long moment of pure silence, followed by an...

"...uh…"

The sound was small, but in a space this large, without anything else to mask it, it may well have been a scream. A portly man in a cheap mustard-colored suit peeked out from behind one of the pillars on either side of the room. He ran. "No, no, no, don't…"

"Grab him!" Tifa yelled.

Aerith watched from the other side of the room as the man in the yellow suit ran towards the stairwell, chased by Tifa, Barret, and Cloud. She watched as Ranma stepped forward from her position near the stairs and twisted her body, almost lazily, through a full circle. Just at the end of the spin, she crouched down on one leg, and extended the other through the space in front of the man's legs. He tripped suddenly, sprawling face first onto the marble floor. She continued through the motion, unperturbed, as graceful as a ballerina and stood upright, bowing slightly. Judging from the executive's sudden trip and faceplant, Aerith supposed it must have been like running ankle-first into a steel girder.

Cloud stepped forward and drew his sword, turning it 90 degrees and driving the tip straight through the marble, mere centimeters from the man's head. "Don't move," he said firmly, "or I'll put it somewhere else."

"It's Palmer," Barret said. "He runs their air force."

"A-A-AVALANCHE…" Palmer whimpered. "Please don't kill me…"

"Tell us what happened."

"Se-Sephiroth!" he shouted fearfully. "It-it was Sephiroth… he came… he killed the president…"

Cloud crouched down to one knee, looking Palmer in the eye. "You really saw Sephiroth?"

"I-uh-I… wouldn't lie to you at a time like this!" Palmer stammered out, closing his eyes, trying not to move. "He spoke… he said something… about not letting us take the Promised Land… I came up here to see what the president wanted my team to do… please… let me go…?"

"Wait, does that mean the Promised Land really exists?" Ranma asked. "Is this Sephiroth guy trying to protect it?"

"Is he one of the good guys?" Barret wondered out loud.

"'Good guy'? 'Protector'?" Cloud spat the words as if in accusation, then waved one arm dismissively. "No way. Sephiroth's goals might include destroying Shinra, but he is _definitely _not on our side!"

There was a sound from outside. A sound of machinery, growing closer. A light in the distance, slowly growing in intensity. "Is that a helicopter?" Ranma asked.

Cloud pulled his sword free of the marble floor. Palmer made a wurbling sound of terror and scampered towards the helipad doorway. A small helicopter was touching down on the landing pad outside. A man stepped out, short blonde hair and a clean white suit, with a large black dog behind him.

"Shit!" Barret shouted suddenly. "It's Rufus! Forgot about him."

"The hell is Rufus?" Ranma asked.

"Vice President Rufus Shinra. The son of the dead guy over there. Heard he'd been sent overseas a couple years ago. Wonder what he's doin' back now."

"I've only ever heard the man's name once," Red said softly.

"I've heard nobody has ever seen him cry or bleed," Aerith spoke almost reverently.

"I wonder what kind of person he is," Tifa peered at him as Palmer stumbled in front of the man, appearing to talk to him as the helicopter lifted away.

Ranma shrugged. "I got nothin," she admitted. "But if he gets in the way, I'll kick his ass too."

"Come on, let's figure this out," Cloud said, shouldering his sword.

-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-

Rufus looked down at Palmer, trembling on the ground. "So… Sephiroth was actually here, then."

"Ye-yessir!" Palmer answered, still terrified. He glanced behind him, and saw the approaching group. "..ulp…"

"Go," Rufus said. "Get to the Weapons department. Activate the Gunners, and send them up. I want this vermin removed."

"Yessir!" he whimpered, and began running past the approaching party. Ranma looked at Palmer as he passed, and he tripped almost on reflex. Ranma grabbed his arm as he passed, keeping him from faceplanting on the narrow walkway, or worse.

"Watch your step, Palmer," she said. "It's a long way down."

Palmer straightened up, appeared to consider thanking her for her help, and then saw Rufus staring him down. He shuddered, turned sharply, and continued back inside.

"By the way," Rufus said casually, "who the hell are you guys?"

Cloud stepped forward. "Ex-SOLDIER, First Class!"

Barret lifted his gun-arm. "I'm from AVALANCHE!"

"Same here!" Tifa declared, punching the air.

"I'm a flower girl from the slums," Aerith said quietly.

"I'm the flower girl's bodyguard," Ranma boasted.

"I was a research specimen," Red finished.

Rufus glanced between them, then gave a genuine-looking smile, and clapped. "What a crew!" he shouted over the sound of the wind coming up the building. "Well now, I'm Rufus Shinra, the new President of Shinra Electric Power Company."

"Only cuz yer old man kicked the bucket," Barret indicated the corpse still resting inside.

"Just so," Rufus agreed, then gestured at the group with one hand. His motion stopped as his arm lined up with Ranma. "And _you_ must be the girl who's given my Turks such a difficult time. What was it you said to them..." he reached into his suit pocket and pulled out a small flipbook of paper, covered in handwritten notes. "Ah, here we are. I believe it was, 'Ranma Saotome doesn't lose.' Yet you managed to get yourself captured and thrown in the prison cells. Tell me, what is that, if not losing?"

Ranma gritted her teeth, glaring at the man, but said nothing. "Very well, if you won't answer that," Rufus continued, "perhaps instead you'll enlighten me to what an outsider like you would be doing with these... cretins. You appear to be a fighter of the highest caliber. And yet you stand amidst these others. I won't bother asking you to work for us, you seem to have developed some bad blood with Reno and I couldn't dream of the two of you working together on anything. But I would like to ask... what is it you want? What are you getting out of fighting us?"

"Buddy, your goons had their chance to ask me questions when I came here," Ranma spat, her gaze turning hard as she clenched her fists. "They didn't wanna be social back then either. I was even nice to them, only dislocated joints, no broken bones, and nothin' that needed serious help. And _now_ you wanna ask me questions? Sorry, but you had your chances, and ya wasted 'em. You wanna know what I want? Yer gonna hafta ask a lot nicer than that."

Rufus shrugged, some of the cheer draining out of the smile on his face. "Well, it was worth a shot, I suppose. And now it seems I have an audience for my inauguration speech. Would be a shame not to take advantage of such an opportunity." He strode forward, meeting the gaze of each of them in turn. "My old man tried to control the world with money. It seems to work, on the surface, anyway. Everyone thought that Shinra would protect them if they signed up. You work, you get paid. If some group of terrorists tries to start making a mess of things, Shinra sends in their army to help clean it up."

Barret glared at Rufus hard at that last statement. "It looks _perfect_ from the outside, doesn't it?" Rufus continued. "But it's _not_ perfect. Nowhere close. You lot are proof of that. And I do things differently. I control my world through fear, and through power. It's just too much work to do it like my old man. Fear will keep the little people in line. And power," he said, drawing a double-barrel shotgun from a holster beneath his suit jacket, leveling the weapon directly at Ranma, "will eliminate anyone else like you."

Tifa crossed her arms over her chest. "You sure do like to hear yourself talk," she declared. "Sure you're not doing it like your old man?"

Cloud's expression had been darkening steadily as the speech continued. "Enough of this," he said, drawing his sword and stepping directly between Rufus and Ranma. "Barret, get everyone else out of the building. I'll take care of this."

"Oh, _hell_ no!" Barret and Ranma both shouted, almost simultaneously.

Barret raised his gun-arm and took aim. "If you're takin' on this pansy-ass, I'm gonna be right here with-"

"I ain't runnin' away from this scrawny piece of-" Ranma began at the same time.

"No," Cloud cut them both off, his tone firm. "Ranma, you have someone here you need to keep safe. And she needs your help more than you need to fight here." Ranma paused, grimaced, but gave a nod of understanding as the wisdom of his words sunk in. "Barret, what's going on right now is the _real_ crisis for this planet. If you want to see it done, this is where it starts!"

Barret's gaze faltered for a moment, and he cocked his head. "Cloud, what on Gaia's green are you talking about?"

Cloud shook his head, turning the Buster Sword to a defensive posture as Rufus leveled his shotgun at Cloud. "Gonna have to take my word for it," Cloud answered. "It's too much to go into now, I'll explain later, I promise! Now _go!_"

Barret grumbled something to himself, but nodded his head, turning his aim back at Rufus. "All right, boys and girls," he growled, "start back inside, I'll cover ya 'til it's time to run." He stepped to one side, closing the gap between himself and Cloud, giving a clear window for the others to move as his towering bulk obscured the others from sight. "Hope you know what you're doin'," he said quietly to Cloud, before backpedaling slowly down the walkway. He moved slowly and deliberately until he was certain all the others were inside, and then turned and ran for it.

Rufus didn't so much as twitch during this entire exchange, his arm steady and pointing straight at Cloud, who in turn held the flat of the Buster Sword up as a wall. "You seem dead-set on fighting me," Rufus called out, "but for the life of me I don't understand why!"

"Because you're after the Promised Land!" Cloud answered. "And you want Sephiroth!"

"Why, yes, I do," Rufus said, feigning nonchalance. "He's an Ancient. He'll bring us to the Promised Land. And then I will kill him, as he did to my old man."

Cloud shook his head. "He won't lead you anywhere except death," he said. "And I'm not going to let you get to any Promised Land."

Rufus shrugged. "I suppose that means we won't be friends." And fired.

-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-

**Floor 69**

A gunshot sounded from somewhere above. Aerith stopped for a moment, looking up. "Cloud…" she whispered. "Is he going to be okay on his own?"

Tifa paused, considering the question. "I'll wait for him. You four go, clear the path, and get us a way out of the building. We'll meet you in the lobby!"

"You sure, Tifa?" Barret asked, but he could see the answer in her face. "All right, stay safe and make sure that spiky-haired idiot gets down there with ya." He gave her a quick embrace, and then turned towards the elevators. "Everyone in! We're leavin' this time!"

"Damn it, Barret, haven't we had enough trouble with elevators today?" Ranma commented, but reluctantly piled in with the others.

Tifa stood and listened as the battle above became frenetic. "Cloud…"

* * *

**A/N: I always thought the timing of Rufus' arrival to Shinra HQ was... suspicious, to say the least, in the original story. "I'm banished because of prior treason, but I'm going to show up on my daddy's doorstep, less than a half hour after his death." That always felt like a gaping plot hole to me. This way, he had a reason. He was coming to find out what was going on with this Ranma woman his Turks had told him about. That actually feels like a motivation that might have flown under the radar, had Shinra the Elder not taken an arrow to the knee- I mean, a sword to the chest.**

**The Ragtag Bunch Of Misfits introductions was a scene I decided months ago that I was definitely including. I ran through almost a dozen iterations of the exchange before I found one I liked. Actually slotting Ranma in there in a way that felt organic took a few tries. Most of this scene's dialog is inspired directly by the game script. Despite my changes elsewhere, a lot of this last scene stayed more or less intact from the game, largely because it was such a good scene, and also because how it plays out is important. I cleaned up some of the awkward dialog bits, but beyond that, it's pretty straight.**

**Ranma learned some basic meditation exercises at some point that I haven't fully detailed out yet. I've had experience with meditative and trance states, and they can be very interesting and useful. A good meditative rest can replace sleep in the short term (think 'power nap'), but has diminishing returns after a couple hours have passed. The best way I ever heard it phrased is that, in place of sleep, an hour's deep meditation will make you feel like you just had a full eight hour sleep, but only for the next two to three hours. I can attest to that line of effectiveness personally.**

**We are nearly off the railroad. Once this story gets out of Midgar, there will be far more liberty taken with how the story begins to progress, even as we touch on main plot points.**

**Hope you like it! Comments and feedback welcome.**


	23. Descent

**Welcome back! So, I know there's a lot going on right now in the world, between the coronavirus event and anything else going on closer to home for each of you. I wouldn't normally do this here, but I want to take a moment to ask each of you to be aware of your fellow humans over the next few weeks. People in foodservice making your latte or your burgers do not deserve to be yelled at. The individual bagging up your groceries doesn't get paid nearly enough to deal with you to demand a store manager go look in the back for more toilet paper for you. That person on the phone trying to help fix your computer does not have the Magic Wand Button that makes it start working again, and neither do the next eleven people up the chain of command. The person on the street being told to go back to whatever country and stop infecting people is third-generation and has lived six blocks away their whole lives. Please be aware that every person you meet today is probably just as worried about what's going on in the world, in the country, and in the immediate are as you are. So don't bully people who are already dealing with this kind of thing. We've all got enough trouble right now. Don't borrow more, and don't make more for others. Be kind. Or Ranma Saotome will come and kick your ass. :)**

**doraemax: It's not so much that Ranma is leery of horror films. It's just that the horror film that's in his mind in that scene is The Shining, and while he's muddying a few details, that movie is frankly a rollercoaster of some of the best horror tropes and scenes in history. Also, he was trying to lighten the mood, somewhat unsuccessfully. He's still mostly a teenager and still occasionally misses social cues, like how talking about one of the most iconic horror films in Earth's history while living a different one isn't exactly a good idea.  
cj1of4: Yuffie will definitely be interesting with this crew, yes.  
WanderingStarmaster: Chaos is basically guaranteed with Ranma's presence, and that's one of the things I love about the character.**

**After next week's update, I will be moving this to a hopefully bi-weekly update schedule. I've gone back and looked over my work and I've realized that I have some work to do to get the next ten or so chapters up to an acceptable level, and I still need to go back and re-edit #20. In short, expect updates on alternating Sundays, but if it doesn't come it'll come when it's ready. The schedule is in some way to keep me goal-oriented, and now I'm taking extra time to make sure chapters are up to snuff.**

* * *

Chapter Twenty Three

Descent

[ ν ] - εγλ 0007, December 13

* * *

**Floor 61**

"_OUT!_" Barret shouted, as Heli Gunner strafed the elevator again, the last of the glass shattering and twinkling away into the darkness below. Ranma stepped out and pulled Aerith sharply out of the line of fire, Barret and Red only a step behind. "Shinra's out of their fuckin' minds, somethin' like that here."

"I told you we shouldn't have taken the elevator!" Ranma shouted. "Place like this, we were sittin' ducks!"

"Never mind that," Red growled. "We have to find a way to take that thing out or we're going to have a bit of a problem getting out of here."

Barret glared at Ranma, before turning and firing a salvo at the mechanical Gunner. "Di'int you say somethin' about bein' good at mid-air combat?"

"Yeah, but I mean stuff like jumping and striking from that height, I can't _fly!_" she clarified. "I try anything on that little dervish out there and I'm looking at splat city from sixty floors up!"

Aerith glanced between the two. "What about your materia?"

"My what?" Ranma glanced down at her arm, the glowing orb embedded into her bracelet. "Oh! Forgot about those."

Red looked up at Ranma in disbelief. "You _forgot _you were wearing materia?"

Ranma focused for a moment, hurling a Blizzard spell out the window at Heli Gunner. "Look, don't get on my case right now, I only found out these things existed two weeks ago!"

"You _must_ be joking!" Red called back, tossing a Fire spell of his own into the distance, colliding with one of the rotary cannons just hard enough to throw its aim off. "I have been trapped in this building for _three years_ and I know how materia works. Have you been living underneath a _rock_?"

"She's from another planet," Aerith started explaining, but Barret pushed them all over as Heli Gunner fired another salvo into the floor-to-ceiling windows ahead of them, sending shards of glass tumbling into the huge open break area of the 61st floor.

"Bitch at each other later, team?" Barret suggested, raising up to one knee and returning fire. "Deal with _that _now!"

Ranma nodded, rolled to her feet, and tossed another Blizzard at the attacker. "Wish Ryoga was here," she muttered. "Could just throw him at the thing and be done with it… wait." Ranma looked at the assorted wreckage of the break room they were taking cover in, and spotted exactly what it was she needed. It wasn't as good as throwing a Ryoga at the problem, but it'd do. "Barret! Cover me!"

"What?" Barret yelled, but Ranma was already moving towards one of the tables they had toppled over in their efforts to stay out of sight. "Damn it, girl is gonna get herself killed." He leaned around the corner and opened fire at the mecha, unloading a full salvo to give as much of a distraction as possible.

Ranma grabbed one of the massive circular tables, tipped it upward, and snapped the legs off with a quick knife-edge chop of her hand. Tossing the legs to one side, she pushed her fingers firmly into the heavy oak forming the table, giving herself a firm handhold. "Everybody _down!_" she shouted, before lifting the table level with her shoulders, rotating around herself like a comically oversized discus.

Barret realized what she was doing, but nearly fell over out of shock seeing the wisp of a girl spinning in a circle, surrounded by a rapidly rotating solid wooden table some three meters across. He quickly pulled Aerith and Red to the ground and covered them, just in time for Ranma to release the table, sending it flying through the air, through the metal frames that had previously held the windows in place, and straight into the Heli Gunner's rotors. The suddenly smashed and mangled metal rotors immediately ceased functioning, and the Gunner tumbled end over end into the darkness below.

Ranma, meanwhile, was now laying flat on the floor, fighting against dizziness. "Guys, gimme a second, that was a bit too close to a vomit comet for my tastes," she called out, even her tone of voice managing to be woozy.

"You must be much stronger than you look," Red commented, padding lightly over to her, taking care to avoid the shards of broken glass strewn about the place, "because I would have estimated that table to weigh more than your entire body."

"Got that right," Barret confirmed. "Ranma is our little miss badass, and don't you forget it."

"That's 'mister badass,' thank you very much," Ranma corrected, "and don't you forget that either." She slowly turned over and moved to a kneeling position. "Okay, think I'm gonna be fine now. Let's book it."

The four ran down the stairs, past floor 60, and exited to the 59th floor lobby. Aerith jabbed the elevator call button repeatedly. "What's taking it so long, anyway?" she asked. "It's five in the damn morning, nobody ought to be using this thing right now."

Ranma shook her head. "Seriously, guys, I didn't want to take the elevator when I came in, I didn't want to take it on the way out earlier, and I _still_ don't want to take the elevator here now. They've probably shut it off, let's just get moving already." She started walking towards the lower stairwell without waiting for the others.

"What do you have against elevators, anyway?" Red asked in confusion, over the gradually increasing sound of a mechanical motor.

"Nothin' against 'em in principle," Ranma explained, standing next to the fire escape door. "But here, it's basically a lockable box that Shinra might be usin' to drop us all to the ground or haul troops up to fight us or somethin', and I like my organs where they are."

Red looked around as the motorized sound continued to increase in volume. "Do you all hear that?" he asked.

"Hear what?" Aerith asked.

"Sounds like a car."

"We're fifty nine floors up, there's no way they have a car up here," Barret said, as the elevator 'ding' sounded behind them. The doors opened. The object inside was in fact much larger than a car. The Hundred Gunner was more akin to a small tank. Four rotary wheels had braced it against the floor of the elevator, and a massive, towering body housed several turrets and a pair of mako-powered cannons. It leveled two massive minigun turrets and began to spin up.

"Oh, no," Ranma had a moment to react, shoving everyone roughly to one side, an instant before the scream of the miniguns began tearing through the office walls behind them. The sound was almost deafening, akin to a swarm of metallic bees shredding everything in sight. The elevator doors closed, but it was pointless in the face of the incessant fire coming from inside. The door itself splintered and shattered into scrap metal, and fell to the lobby floor.

"Well, it's not a car!" Aerith shouted.

"Didn't we just leave this party?" Barret yelled over the sound of gunfire.

The twin miniguns continued spitting out a truly absurd number of rounds, carving the inside of the elevator doorjam out further, widening it for the tank's passage. After a few seconds more, the sound of gunfire finally halted, and a motor spun up. The tank began to push itself out of the elevator, its rotary treads trying to gain purchase on the smooth marble tiles. Ranma watched in rapt horror for a moment as she considered exactly how short their lives would become if that thing rounded the corner and they remained standing there. "Aerith!" Ranma called out. "Need your staff!" Aerith nodded and pulled it out from beneath her, handing it to Ranma. "Barret, need you to blow out a window for me!"

She stood up as the sound of crunching glass and metal to one side signaled the Hundred Gunner's ponderous attempts to clear the elevator doors to renew its assault. Ranma pulled hard against the elevator doors for the opposite shaft, wrenching them open, and wedging them ajar with the staff.

Barret finally caught on and ran over, leaning out into the elevator shaft and firing at the glass casing around the outside, opening a hole in both the current shaft and also in the one occupied by the Gunner. Ranma hopped to the frame on the near window, then over to the next one, and finally perched herself atop the elevator holding Hundred Gunner. Focusing for a moment, she forced a Blizzard spell into the assembly holding the elevator carriage to the ascent cables. "Kami, I hope this works," she breathed, and stepped backwards to the inner wall of the elevator shaft. Taking a deep breath, she tensed her body as she focused her chi, and lifted her arms as if holding a sword. "_Yama-Sen Ken: Kijin No Ha!_" she shouted, bringing her arms down sharply.

The air tore with her motion, a vacuum forming in front of her and flying forward at breakneck speed. The chi-infused blade of air struck the cable assembly and passed through with an audible shatter, the rapidly cooled metal unable to withstand the sudden force against it. It continued, piercing cleanly through the window on the opposite side, and vanished into the night.

The elevator went into freefall, plummeting down the shaft. Ranma leaped from the roof of the elevator into the open space of the freshly-carved 59th floor lobby. The scream of metal fatigue echoed upwards through the shaft and into the building as the guide rails that held the elevator to the side of the building reached their stress point and failed, the carriage snapping free at around the 20th floor. Hundred Gunner and the elevator car that had held it hurtled out into midair, landing on the pavement just outside the Shinra Tower entrance, and exploded into a massive fireball as its collective armaments ignited almost simultaneously.

"_That_," Ranma declared forcefully, pulling herself to her feet, "is why I didn't wanna take the elevator when we came in here." Red stared at her, dumbstruck, tongue lolled out to one side. Barret beamed his approval.

Aerith peered down at the wreckage in the distance below. "So, how are we getting down, then?"

"Guess it's the stairs again," Barret indicated the fire escape to one side. "We're gettin' out on the third floor, meetin' up with the others in the main lobby."

"Not yet." Ranma turned back to the up-stairwell. She glanced over one shoulder and caught Barret's eye. "Keep Aerith safe. I'll catch you up, but I've got _somethin'_ to get off my chest first," she said, her tone turning dark.

Barret blinked, but nodded, and gently but firmly started guiding Aerith towards the lower stairwell, Red padding silently behind. Ranma steeled herself, and started back up the stairs.

**Floor 67**

Blood still stained the walls, and the tank which held Jenova was still empty. But Ranma wasn't here for any of that. She remembered the look of terror Aerith had on her face when they had found her in the Science department. Trapped in a container, referred to as a specimen, nearly forced to fight another living, thinking creature to the death for what appeared to be nothing more than Hojo's amusement... Ranma was here to make sure that nobody else would be 'studying' any more specimens for a long, long time.

She stood in the abandoned Science Department, the lights already dimmed from the battle below. She barely had to think about what she was doing. She barely had to pull on her already strained emotions. She simply knew what she needed to do. She faced the 'specimen tank' that had held Red captive when they arrived. She took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and screamed. "_Shishi -_"

**Floor 69**

Cloud limped down the stairwell, clutching at his ribs. "Damn that Rufus," he muttered, before he glanced over to the entryway. "...Tifa? What happened? What are you still doing here?"

_I wanted to stay by your side, no matter what_, she did not say. "I stayed to make sure we all met up in the right place," she answered, rushing to his side and pushing a Cure spell into his torso. "What happened to you?"

"Couldn't finish Rufus," he indicated his side as the spell took effect, knitting his bones and healing the bruises. "He got a lucky shot off and cracked my ribs through the armor, then hopped back onto his helicopter and flew off somewhere. This is gonna get complicated…"

"Doesn't matter," Tifa waved him off. "The others should be waiting downstairs by the time we get there. Let's go."

Before they could take another step, there was a massive, thundering blast that echoed through the tower. "What the hell was that?"

"Felt like a bomb went off," Tifa replied, pulling him towards the stairs. A second later, they noticed a dull red light out the window, somewhere below them, and an orb of reddish energy sailing off into the horizon. "Oh, hell."

"What?"

"I think..." There was a second tooth-rattling thump from somewhere below, and another red light sailed off into the distance. "Yeah, Ranma's getting some stress out. We need to go," Tifa added. "Now."

**Floor 26**

Red, Aerith, and Barret has been descending the stairs for a good ten minutes, the trip down proceeding not quite as quickly as the route in had taken them. The slower descent was largely to ensure that none of them fell and injured themselves, as it was a long way down. Barret had admitted to himself that he hadn't fully understood what Ranma had planned until he heard the thump of an explosion somewhere above them. He grinned when he heard it and continued on his way down the stairwell.

It was around this point that Red stopped for a moment on the landing, ears perked up. "Do either of you hear that?" he said quietly to the others.

Barret paused, as did Aerith, and concentrated. There was a sound of fabric, flapping in the air, and then nothing. And then it began again. "What on Gaia..." Barret muttered, raising his gun-arm as the sound grew closer.

Immediately above them, there was a grunt of effort and the sound of an impact against the stairway. Barret's arm twitched higher and he motioned for the others to back against the wall. There was utter silence for a long moment. Then, from above, "Barret, put that thing down, it's me!"

"Ranma?" Aerith called out at the sound of the familiar voice.

"Yeah, I had ta catch y'all up somehow," she said, as she rounded the landing above them. "Dropped a few floors at a time in the open space here."

Red grinned as only a wolf can. "What exactly did you do up there anyway?"

Ranma shook his head. "Let's get out of here first. Story time later."

Barret nodded in agreement. "Yeah, that's damn right. Get a move on, everyone!"

**Main Lobby**

Pre-dawn was visible in the distance, the sun's glowing rays illuminating the clouds on the horizon. It was because of that light and the contrast with the surrounding areas that Barret noticed the veritable army standing at the ready outside the lobby entrance before they approached the lobby doors. "Wait up, y'all, this is about to get messy," he said, pointing outside.

Several rows of armed troopers and a number of heavy vehicles were waiting just outside. A loudspeaker squawked into life somewhere outside. "Attention," a nasal voice barked into the speaker. "You are surrounded. Surrender your weapons, and come out of the building with your hands up, or we will be forced to fire upon you!"

The four of them paused for a moment in consideration, and as one, made for cover provided by the pillars and reception desks before the troopers outside opened fire. The spray of bullets chewed into the floor, the furniture, and the scenery, leaving pockmarks and bullet holes everywhere. Barret peeked out from cover, getting a better view of the troopers' positions. "If I was alone, wouldn't be a thing… but I gotta reputation to uphold," he commented. "Fightin' retreat might be our best option from here. Get back to the upper levels an' make 'em pay for every floor if we have to."

Ranma looked outside doubtfully from her own position. "I might be able to take some of them out, but _that_… is a lot more firepower than I'm comfortable gettin' in the middle of," she admitted with a frown.

"I don't know about you two," Red said quietly, lowering his body into an aggressive stance, "but even though I could voluntarily return to the tender mercies of Hojo and the Science Department, I have no desire to. If we are to die fighting, then so be it."

Ranma smiled softly. "Can pretty well guarantee that ain't happenin', at least," she commented through a lull in the gunfire coming in. "Blew up Hojo's precious little specimen tanks while I was up there. I couldn't even _dent_ the prison walls, though. No idea what the hell they built those things out of. So I pulled the ceiling down in the hallway in front of it instead, buried it. Nobody's going back in there for a while.

Barret turned and looked at the girl. "Damn," he swore quietly, giving a small smile. "It took you a while to get pissed enough at Shinra, but can't argue with the results."

Aerith looked out at the assembled Shinra forces in the pre-dawn light washing over the plate from behind a damaged pillar. "I won't go back, no matter the cost," she confirmed. "I am not going to live my life under their control, even if that means we fall here."

"Well, we are at least of one mind," Red confirmed. "Fight and live, or fight and die, but no surrender."

Ranma shrugged. "All things bein' equal, I'd rather we live, but I guess we'll have to wait an' see," she said softly, clenching her fists and getting ready to charge out.

"Barret!" Tifa's voice called from the top of the stairs, drawing everyone's attention.

Barret turned sharply at the sound of Tifa's voice, and gave a wry smile despite himself as she descended the stairs. "Good, you're here, Cloud's here, now we can all die together... Wait," he paused, noticing the absence of anyone with Tifa. "Where's that spiky head run off to?"

Tifa ignored him for a moment, pulling a grenade out from somewhere and throwing it at the front gate, before ducking for cover. The blast kicked up dust and smoke, and scattered the troopers approaching the front gate. "Come on, Cloud's got a way out!" she shouted, running past them and into the middle of the lobby.

There was the sound of a motor from somewhere above. "Oh, Kami, not another one," Ranma complained. "I can't even throw this one off a building from here." Regardless, all of them followed Tifa. The sound of the motor grew louder, as suddenly Cloud appeared, rolling down the stairs on an enormous motorcycle. Tifa jumped up onto a display panel and into a light blue, three-wheeled truck, and rapidly peeled away a panel to hotwire the engine. Aerith climbed into the passenger seat, while Barret and Red hopped into the flatbed. "This is not a good idea," she muttered, "but out of a field of one…" she shrugged and piled in alongside Barret. Tifa gunned the engine, and they rolled across the floor of the main lobby, following Cloud to the third floor.

Cloud rolled to a stop, his front tire pointing towards a large window. Tifa skidded to a halt behind him. "Everybody hold on tight!" Cloud shouted, and accelerated.

Ranma ducked down as Tifa floored the gas, right behind Cloud as he smashed straight through the window. They sailed over the assembled military might of Shinra, landed on a smooth paved highway, and drove into the distance.

Within seconds, Shinra's forces were in pursuit.

* * *

**A/N: The Hundred Gunner/Heli Gunner fight always felt... boring to me. Forced encounter in an elevator sounds interesting, but there's not much going on in a strictly storytelling sense with these fights. I decided to make them a little more dynamic, first by switching up their order of appearance, and then by having Heli Gunner chasing the descending party around instead of just showing up in an elevator shaft and taking potshots at them. This also made for more creative solutions in concluding or circumventing the battles. I will also say that I have seen some of the trailers for FF7 Remake, and it appears that something similar occurs in at least one scene in one of the more recent trailers. I wrote this segment in late November, so I'm holding this iteration as my own, regardless of any similarities that may present when the game releases.**

**Ranma forgetting that he had bought an Iron Bangle and a materia set is actually... really in character with Ranma's character historically. It's the same thing where he trains for most of an arc to learn a new ability or style of Martial Arts And Crafts and then it's not seen again forever, even when elements of it would have been useful later on. **

**Ranma's techniques...**

**_Yama-Sen Ken: Kijin No Ha -_ Thousand Mountains Style: Blade of the Demon-God. An impromptu modification to the standard multiple strike technique, this instead refocuses the energy spent in creating many blows to a single cutting edge, allowing for greater precision and focus of the blow. As a result, the overall cutting power is increased compared to the diffused strength of the multi-strike attack, but can only hit a single target. Ranma using this after flash-freezing the elevator's cable assembly to make it more brittle was probably not strictly necessary, but Ranma decided to maximize the chances of success when attempting an ad-hoc chi technique.**

**Hope you like it! Comments and feedback welcome!**


	24. A Light at the End of the Road

**Woo, I'm quarantined! *falls flat on her face***

**The last week has been... chaotic, to say the least, and certainly not for me alone. Whenever I end up finishing this story I'm sure I'm going to look back on this particular chapter in history and just facepalm forever. I should clarify, so far as I am aware, I have not yet been infected. However, I am taking as few chances as possible. I tend to have a fairly robust immune system, but I do not want to be the Typhoid Mary that kills my very nice elderly neighbor who occasionally bakes cookies and the like for me, or even some random passer-by on the street. A recent post I've seen making the rounds sums it up; don't change your behavior to avoid infection. Assume you're already infected, and change your behavior to avoid spreading the illness. Everyone, please stay safe, take the time and rest you need, and wash your damn hands. :)**

**silentstrixe: The answer to that is about two chapters out. Bear with me. I've got plans regarding the Enemy Skill materia.  
Crescent Pulsar: This is a good observation. Ranma _probably_ would have survived the fall. But probably not the hailstorm of bullets that followed when he got up. And even assuming the regular army wasn't down there, there would be the secondary consideration of taking a chance at a single attack in midair from the 61st floor at a flying tank, and hit or miss, falling to the ground and being out of the fight until he climbed back up.  
Shsdowstorm_Vash: Ranma's been seeing a lot of heavy events in the last few days. He still does not have the... shall we say, depth and breadth of an emotional wreckage that Ryoga carries around on a regular basis, but considering the potential of the Shishi Hokodan as both a powerful martial arts technique and as an effective therapeutic release valve, it's a good way for Ranma to, as he phrased it, 'get something off her chest.'**

**From this point, updates will be, at the most frequent, biweekly, until I've either built up a better backlog of edited chapters, or am satisfied that I can get back to a weekly pattern. With what's going on in the world right now, I'm not exactly looking to commit to anything major at the moment. Either way, I hope you continue to tune in. Expect the next chapter April 5th, and enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter Twenty Four

A Light At The End Of The Road

[ ν ] - εγλ 0007, December 13

* * *

Ranma watched as the troopers advanced rapidly, catching up in ones and twos to the over-laden pickup. She watched as Cloud unshouldered his massive blade, swinging in a wild arc, smashing a trooper off his bike and into the pavement. Cloud's bike continued to roll straight and true, as if he hadn't just swung what looked to be a half-ton slab of metal around in a half-circle. "How does he even do that?" she wondered aloud as she fueled a Blizzard spell and sent it careening past Cloud to lock the front wheel of a pursuer's vehicle, causing it to suddenly flip. "I don't even know if Ryoga could do somethin' like that," she mused in wonder.

"That's SOLDIER for ya," Barret commented, switching his gun-arm to semi-auto and taking careful aimed shots at the approaching targets. "Dunno what they do to build 'em that strong, but they're that strong."

Red peeked over the tailgate, the wind blowing through his mane, sending it whipping about as he sent a Fire careening into one of the troopers' tires, forcing it into a long skid against the asphalt and sending the trooper riding it into a hard tumble against the concrete divider. "It is certainly impressive, to be sure," he added.

Cloud swung again as a Shinra trooper advanced, the flat of the Buster Sword smacking hard against the body of the trooper, sending him flying as his bike slid out from beneath him. He held the blade firmly in his left hand, its mass and length still causing it to drag slightly against the pavement, causing sparks to fly out behind him. Barret took a shot at a pair of shapes in the distance, and was satisfied to watch them both drop. Another approached Cloud on his left side; a broad backhanded swing carved the opposing vehicle nearly in half, the trooper sliding hard on the pavement.

Ranma peered into the darkness behind them. "Is that all of them?" she asked.

"Unlikely," Red remarked, raising his front paw and pointing out into the darkness in the distance. "Take a look out there."

A massive black shape was approaching at speed. As it passed beneath the streetlights, they got glimpses of it. Six enormous spiked wheels. Several ports along the main body. And it was catching up fast. The tank-like object drew alongside Cloud and attempted to ram him from the side, trying to squash him against the highway divider. Cloud braked hard, swerving around the vehicle from behind to the other side and passing by.

Then the highway ran out.

The road simply ended in midair, the next segment still waiting to be assembled and slotted into place. Both passenger vehicles screeched to a halt, but the tank merely slowed, approaching the party as they piled out of the truck. The body of the tank began to raise up, a pair of enormous bladed arms extending out from either side of the torso section. Between the color of the metal and the shape of the body, it resembled a winged chess piece.

"Is it just me," Tifa observed, setting foot on the pavement, "or does it seem like someone just sits around in Shinra HQ and dreams up increasingly elaborate tank designs all day long?"

"Increasingly flawed, as well," Red quipped.

"Her name is Scarlet," Cloud answered, remembering the head of Weapons Research and Development from the previous night. "And yeah, that's basically her whole thing. She likes tanks."

Ranma facepalmed at that. "Yeah, we are not doin' this again," she muttered. "Everybody keep back!" The others dutifully stood their ground near the truck as Ranma strode forward. The Motor Ball tank sat there, seeming to be waiting for something. Ranma began to focus her breathing, her body glowing even in the darkness. "I don't know if you're watching, or listening, or even if you care, Rufus, but if you are, I hope you hear this. _We don't belong to you_. Don't come after us again."

The tank continued to sit still, its idling engine the only sound audible in the relative isolation from the rest of the city. Then the tank moved, its body shifting forward on the treads. The towering torso of the tank leaned forward and rotated its torso, brandishing its enormous blades at Ranma, and leveling a trio of enormous cannons atop its crown at the others.

Ranma nodded. "Yeah, that's about what I thought you'd say," she muttered, and pulled her arms close to her body, a familiar orange-and-red aura surrounding her body. "_**M**__**ō**__**ko **__**Takabisha**__** Nensh**__**ō**__**!**_" she shouted, thrusting both arms out in a clawed grip. Instead of aiming upward at the torso, she instead aimed at the highway directly in front of the tank. The massive red orb struck the pavement, spreading outward like goopy molten rock. Ranma leaped backwards, just before the attack detonated.

The blast did little enough damage to the tank, barely level with the middle of its wheels. But the tank wasn't the target. The pavement cracked and shattered, the force of the blast pushing giant chunks out of the elevated road and down into the unoccupied field outside Midgar. Suddenly lacking anything holding it up, Motor Ball disappeared through the hole in the pavement, the bladed arms snapping off as they struck the asphalt and tumbling to either side of the highway. There was an enormous crunching sound from below as the tank landed head-first and collapsed under the force of impact. A few seconds later, an explosion sounded from below as its combined armaments and flamethrower fuel ignited catastrophically.

"I'm _really_ getting tired of those tanks," Ranma said, dusting off her hands before turning to face the others. "...what?"

The other members of the group, to a man, shared an expression of open-mouthed disbelief at the level of destruction Ranma casually wielded. "You…" Cloud began, pointing at the gaping hole in the pavement some fifteen meters across, but could find no further words to add to the statement.

Aerith and Tifa were no less baffled by the display of strength, even having witnessed the attack previously. Barret was floored, but hid that behind his usual tough exterior. Red, on the other hand, was staring at Ranma as one might a religious figure. "How are you _capable_ of that?" he asked.

"Trust me, Red," Aerith said quietly, a faint smile visible in the early light, "I've been asking myself that same question about _everything_ she does."

Barret grunted in agreement, and looked out towards the city, laid out before them, as the sun began to rise behind. "So, we've drawn blood against Shinra, and they ain't happy about it. What do we do now?"

Cloud looked over at Tifa, memories of their past washing over him. "Sephiroth is alive," he said. "I have to settle the score with him…"

"An' that'll save the planet?"

Cloud considered the question. "It seems that way," he answered. "There's too much going on that he's involved with at this point."

"I'm in, then," Barret grinned, pumping his fist in the air.

"Well, I'm in too," Ranma chimed in. "Unless we find something that gets me back home, you all are stuck with me."

Aerith glanced back at Midgar looming behind them. "I'm going too," she said, turning out towards the fields again. "I have… things… questions that need answers."

"You mean, about the Ancients?" Ranma queried.

"About… lots of things."

Ranma gave a nod. "Then I'll keep you safe until you can get home to Elmyra, too."

Tifa smiled gently. "I suppose this is goodbye to Midgar, then."

Red glanced between them. "I'll go with you as far as my hometown," he said. "I have been gone too long as it is. Though I should ask if any of you first have a plan to get us all down from this highway."

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"I am never going along with one of your plans, ever again," Red grumbled, clinging to Ranma's back.

"It was either this or tie a rope harness around your midsection and lower you that way," Ranma answered, climbing down the cable. A coil of rope had been found in the truck's flatbed. Two simple lengths of rope had been gently tied around Red's left and right paws, and created a makeshift backpack out of him. Ranma had volunteered to 'wear' Red and carry him down to ground level.

"It is humiliating," Red insisted. "I am not a sack of vegetables."

"No, you aren't," Ranma answered. "You look a bit like a lion from my world, you howl like a timberwolf, you speak like a human, and you fight like nothing I've ever seen. If I didn't know better I'd say you were from the Musk dynasty."

"What is this 'world' you and your friends keep alluding to?"

Ranma nearly shrugged, then remembered herself and the position they were currently in. "Tell you what, let's get somewhere safe, and then I'll tell you a story that will make your tongue fall out."

Red glanced downwards as they neared the ground. "I prefer my tongue where it is, thank you."

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It took nearly a half hour for all of them to safely rappel down to the ground outside the city, by which time the sun had fully risen over the distant foothills. Cloud was the last one down, brachiating down the coiled steel wire without even using his legs to steady himself, a feat that even Ranma considered impressive considering the counterweight strapped to his back.

"I guess this is the start of the journey, then," Tifa said quietly, a hint of reluctance in her voice.

Cloud glanced over at her, rubbing a bit of soreness out of his arms. "Are you going to be okay?"

"I don't think it matters anymore whether I'm going to be okay…" she gazed downward as she spoke. "I don't have anywhere else to go. We can't exactly walk back into Midgar. And… Nibelheim… isn't there anymore." She looked back up and smiled. "But I think as long as you keep your promise, I'll get by at least."

Cloud gave her a nod. "I'll do my best, then."

"I hope my mother will be okay," Aerith said. Ranma turned and gave her a warm hug.

"I gave her 'bout three thousand gil when she agreed to take care of Marlene," Barret responded. "She said she'd wait for any mess we made to die down, then get out of the city as soon as possible. She's tough… reminds me of my momma way back when. Think she'll be okay."

"I know she will," Ranma agreed. "I know her type too, she would walk through fire to make sure you could see her again."

Aerith smiled at that, and gave Barret and Ranma each a hug, before turning to Red and running a hand over his head. "I didn't say so before, but... thank you, all of you, for getting me out of that place. I honestly don't know what would have happened if I'd stayed there. It... means a lot to me that I have met you all, that you're all willing to do so much for me." She turned to Tifa and Cloud and took a step forward, hesitated, and gave them both a deep bow instead.

Barret nodded and strode into the middle of the group. "Okay, team…" he waited until he had everyone's attention. "It's dawn, Midgar's closed for business, and we've got what's in our pockets and on our backs. That's a decent chunk of change, but unless somebody else grabbed breakfast, we ain't got no food between us. Nearest outpost is out past the Drybed, and from there we oughta be able to get a ride out to Kalm. I know it's gonna suck for a bit, but we gotta half day's walk ahead of us to get to food and transport. And that means we all gotta start walkin', right now." There were some assorted groans and grumbles. "Yeah, I know, but it's that or we sit here and starve. An' we should probably choose a leader for this little group of ours. 'Course," Barret smiled, standing triumphantly amidst the others, "that could only be me."

Tifa shrugged. "I don't know," she started. "I think Cloud ought to be the leader."

Ranma blinked. "Yeah, definitely not me," she commented. "I barely knew my way around Midgar, don't ask me to try guiding us around the world."

"Agreed," Aerith smiled. "Ranma it isn't."

Barret glanced at the three girls. "Fine, whatever. Mister Big Shot Ex-SOLDIER, do you have any plans for us?"

Cloud gave a wan smile. "Honestly, I think you covered it all. Let's all get on the move, we've got a long walk ahead of us."

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The rumor among the rank and file was that an unknown group of terrorists had attacked Shinra Tower and killed the now-former President. Further speculation offered the possibility of an unknown weapon having been deployed within the Tower itself, as two large red spheres of energy had appeared in the pre-dawn sky, visible to anyone who had been awake and looking in the right direction at the time. There was, as of yet, no official stance or press release, but the Science Department had been heavily damaged, two gaping holes in the wall having been covered with tarp and gated off for safety. After some consideration, Heidegger had ordered all floors above the 65th to be sealed to any but executive access in an effort to prevent further rumors from circulating, which naturally caused them to spin up all the faster.

Rufus Shinra stood in front of one of the gaping holes in the wall. A portable monitor replayed a short clip of the event as captured by the independently-powered Science Department's security feeds. Rufus watched the young girl square her stance, move her arms, and an orb of energy had appeared in front of her. The orb sailed forward and everything in front of it had been pushed, bent, or simply crushed by whatever force it imparted. Rufus had seen the projectiles fly out of the tower as his helicopter circled the building, following his less-than-productive meeting with the escaped terrorists. He'd initially believed them to be some sort of flare or signal device, but the footage confirmed it.

The attack appeared to be composed of an entirely _unidentified_ type of energy.

Rufus gave a smirk. "If only you could see me now, old man," he muttered to nothing in particular, the tarp flapping in the wind masking his words from the other occupants of the room. He turned to the assembled group. "You can see why I've called you here," he said flatly.

The five individuals stood at ease before Rufus, their attention focused more on the clip than the man in front of them All five of them wore the standard black tunic of First-class SOLDIERs. "New weapon test go out of control?" one of them asked. He was a tall man with short dark hair, his hand resting on the hilt of a long sword hanging at his hip.

"Hardly," Rufus answered, taking a step back. "Last night, four individuals bypassed Tower security, infiltrated the building, and remained undetected for nearly two hours. More than a dozen guards are dead, twice that number of civilians. They freed three... specimens, destroyed the Science department labs, and escaped. Among the intruders was this individual," he continued, gesturing to the monitor, "identified as Ranma Saotome. It is unknown if that is her real name, as we have been unable to determine _any_ other information about her."

There was a moment where the collective response of all of the assembled individuals was that of stark disbelief. "Nothin' at all?" the second man said, his wild mass of red hair swaying with his motions. He carried a pair of short heavy blades, one over each shoulder. "Heh, sounds like the boys up in Administrative Research ain't earnin' their pay any more."

Rufus rolled his eyes. "Reports from the former President indicate that three different attempts were made to bring the target in for questioning. Two of those attempts ended in the Turks being recovered and spending a day or two in the Medical Ward. The third attempt ended in the destruction of Sector 7 by the girl's compatriots, a terrorist organization known as AVALANCHE. And despite your rivalry with the Turks," he raised a hand to forestall the jeering, "the injuries that were sustained were not out of incompetence. The reports were verified by all of the _surviving_ troopers who accompanied them on the second outing. She was unarmed and unarmored, had no materia that could be seen, and yet is capable of some... uncanny ability which shreds both metal and trooper armor as if they were _paper_."

That got their attention. The third man, heavily built with a serious expression, a buzzcut, and dark skin, stood up from his position leaning against the wall, the metal of his club scraping against the ground. "She's really that strong?" he asked. "She doesn't _look_ that strong."

Rufus gave a curt nod. "If the girl's boasting is to be believed, she deliberately used a weakened version of... whatever it is that she used." Rufus took a few steps forward and gestured to the monitor again. "To top that off, the footage here shows that she has access to at least one other destructive attack, which was capable of turning the reinforced, magic-proofed walls of the Science Department here into... well, _nothing_." He paused for a long moment. "There is also a secondary threat. It is unknown at this time whether the second attack was coordinated with this group's, but late last night at least one other individual infiltrated the building and killed Rupert Shinra. The assassin left this behind."

Rufus lifted a clear container from behind the impromptu briefing station, which held a two-meter-long curved blade, the bottom half-meter or so stained with blood. The last two, with identical shocks of reddish brown hair, wove between the others to get a good look. As they examined the weapon, there was an almost reverent silence. "Is that what I think it is?" the first man asked.

Rufus nodded. "It is the weapon which was used to kill my father. The one witness to the attack says that it was Sephiroth who did it. That is why you've been gathered." He strode up the line, taking a moment to gather his thoughts. "The five of you have the highest rate of success in missions taken in the last three years. You also have the highest aptitude scores for your respective weapons disciplines. Your orders are to find Ranma Saotome, and Sephiroth, or whoever is claiming to be him, and capture or kill them both."

The third man nodded. "Preference?"

Rufus shook his head. "Whatever you can manage. Capture for the girl is preferable, but kill her if she resists. Sephiroth..." he stopped for a moment, his gaze hardening. "I want to claim his head myself for killing my father, but I'll settle for having it delivered to me."

A murmur of agreement and understanding passed between the SOLDIERs. "Question," the fourth of the group said quietly, sharing a glance with the fifth. "There is doubt about whether this is Sephiroth, or an imitator?"

"Sephiroth was declared dead five years ago," Rufus answered. He placed one hand on the sealed weapon, looking down at it thoughtfully. "I'm not so foolish to as to believe that he has somehow resurrected himself, but the reports from then are less reliable than I'd like. Whatever happened, it's possible he faked his death and has been in hiding. Whether it is an impostor or the genuine article, he must be taken down." Rufus switched off the monitor and ran one hand through his hair. "I've given your clearance to the quartermaster already. You may requisition whatever you believe you may need, within reason. Any special requests go to me. Beyond that, good hunting, and dismissed."

The five SOLDIERs came to attention, saluted, and walked towards the elevator. They passed Tseng as he entered the room, who stepped up to the table and waited for Rufus to acknowledge him. "This was not how I wanted my return to proceed," he muttered. "Ousting Father, yes, but..." he trailed off, brushing a stray hair from his face. "That's no longer important. What is it, Tseng?"

Tseng cleared his throat. "Hojo is missing, sir."

Rufus turned to face him, not quite believing what he had just heard. "...'missing,'" he repeated flatly. He stared across the scorched table and over top the bloodstained Masamune to Tseng. _Goddess take me if this day continues_, he thought to himself. Aloud, he said in a tone that conveyed all of his irritation in two simple words, "Define 'missing.'"

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The Drybed, it turned out, was called that because years ago it had been a lake. After Shinra came in, it dried up. Nobody really knew why, but it was probably Shinra's doing, according to Barret. It was now a barren wasteland, hard-packed dried mud and silt that had been robbed of all its moisture and nutrients, barely supporting a few patches of grass and an occasional pack of Fangs roaming nearby.

It was just past noon by the time the six of them spotted the trail leading towards the outpost, which turned out to be a tiny hamlet with scarcely a dozen homes. A truck stop served as an inn, restaurant, supply depot, and source of obtaining transport, but the next passenger vehicle wouldn't be going to Kalm until the following morning. The six of them took the opportunity to eat and obtain supplies, eliciting quite a few surprised looks when Red sat down at a table and ordered from the menu. They also took the chance to get what was arguably the first uninterrupted night's sleep any of them had since before visiting the Corneo Mansion, three whole days prior.

The next morning, Ranma showed Red her party trick, and poured a cup of hot water over top of his head. Red watched as Ranma's body didn't so much transform as shift, moment to moment, between a clearly female form, and a clearly male form, without so much as a whisper of sound, a poof of clouds, or any other form of ostentation. The entire process took just over a second.

"But…" Red began, taking a long time to collect his thoughts. He paced around Ranma's feet, head lifted, and sniffed Ranma curiously, trying to make sense of the events in front of him. "You were female. You _smelled _like a female. Now you're male, and _smell _like a male." Red shook his head in confusion. "You can't _do _that! You shouldn't be _able _to do that! _Nobody _should be able to do that!"

"Wish that were true, buddy," Ranma replied. "Woulda made the last two years of my life a lot easier if I could _disbelieve_ it strongly enough to make it not happen. It's real though, and this is the real me."

Red huffed, a sound made more impressive by his canine build. "No wonder you were insistent on the 'mister' back in Shinra Tower. I take it that the others are already informed of this… peculiarity?"

"They know about my curse, yeah," he answered. "It's been a lot of trouble here, because in the last several days, actually getting access to hot water when I needed to was… difficult."

"And this is… what you normally look like? How you identify, rather?"

Ranma nodded. "I was born a boy. I think of myself as a boy, even when my body isn't one. And if I ever find out how to get rid of this curse, I'll be a boy then too. I'm usually okay being referred to as female, though, when I'm a girl on the outside."

Red stared at him. "You are remarkably mature to have such an outlook."

"Shoulda seen me last year," he replied. "I was a jerk. Took me a while, but I grew past it. I still don't like it, but I've…" he trailed off, considering his words carefully. "I'm not _at peace_ with it, but I found balance with it. It ain't perfect, but I can work with it and accept it for what it is."

Red nodded, and Ranma went to get his morning shower.

An hour later, just before dawn, their transport departed for Kalm.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry, folks, we're skipping Motorball. Honestly, three unsatisfying, non-plot-advancing, mechanized tank boss battles, in a row? Yeah, no. Ranma was getting sick of them too. Seriously, Scarlet must just sit at the planning table all day drawing them up and getting them into production. She's Shinra's version of Fenster. And if anyone else actually gets that reference without looking it up I will be legitimately impressed.**

**As you can see, we've got more changes inbound. SOLDIER is being sent after AVALANCHE, or at least after Ranma. We have five specialists being sent out. You'll meet them and find out more details as we run across them. Suffice it to say, these guys are going to be hunting down the Midgar Wrecking Crew, even as they attempt to chase after Sephiroth. And... well, there will also be some further issues as we proceed.**

**There are more changes coming now that we are out of Midgar. The stage is set, the players are in motion, and now we can get down to business (to defeat... the Huns). We've got one more chapter ahead that is primarily backstory, including, finally, what happened to Ranma to change him from the arrogant and somewhat sexist but talented martial artist he used to be, to the somewhat more introspective, less impulsive, and more socially aware warrior we've mostly seen thus far.**

**Hope you like it! Comments and feedback welcome!**


	25. One Kalm Day

**Aaaand we're back! One week left to the release of FF7 Remake! There's a thing I'm looking forward to. For anyone who is interested, I am planning Twitch streams as I pick up the game on Friday, and for most of the weekend, as we continue to ride out the isolation orders here. Hopefully I'll actually be able to get my copy, considering everything that's going on with the COVID closures happening across the board. On the other hand, I also want people to stay safe, so I'm kind of torn. Looks like we'll be playing this one by ear.**

**Comments!  
Kariston Draconis and kuriboh1233: Congratulations, you win the bonus round! Was it really Finster, not Fenster? I guess I always heard that wrong when I was younger.  
Death Of Snipers: The Turks will be making other appearances; the Midgar Wrecking Crew have, between them, a lot of unresolved issues to address with the Turks to let them stay sidelined the whole story. However, we're going to be seeing more of SOLDIER for a bit first. The five shown in the previous chapter are, functionally, OCs. We technically do see some of SOLDIER in the original game, but they're exclusively random encounters in Shinra-controlled spaces. I'm intending to show a little more depth to them.  
just yuki and GXY-2013: Events are not going to be playing out exactly as you'd be used to. Ranma's presence has already started to pull on different threads, and we're seeing the beginnings of that now. Does that mean that Aerith will survive? Does that even mean that Aerith will be going to the City of the Ancients? I'm not telling, yet.  
****WanderingStarmaster: None of the individuals shown in Ch.24 are Kunsel. Time will tell whether he's still around or not.  
****Mr. Haziq: That would be... now. :D Are you sure you're not reading ahead in my rough draft somehow?**

**Anyone who is interested in looking up my Twitch streams, I've posted my information in my profile. Hope you tune in, hope you stay safe, and hope you all enjoy the story!**

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Chapter Twenty Five

One Kalm Day

[ ν ] - εγλ 0007, December 14

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It had been a solid three hours in transit on a rough road paved into the dirt by the passage of the vehicles that traveled it. The trek was rough, bumpy, and slower than anyone would have liked, but since Kalm was just over 150 kilometers from the edge of the Drybed, it was still better by far than walking. They arrived reasonably well rested, if somewhat sore from the travel, on the outskirts of Kalm, where they disembarked and walked the rest of the way on the narrow cobblestone streets leading into the center of town.

Originally a fishing town, Kalm bordered the eastern ocean and was home to more than five hundred homes. The buildings were constructed around similar aesthetics to each other, and to Ranma's eyes, they resembled designs that he had seen in various history classes and the occasional television drama. There was a great deal of vertical expansion in many of the buildings as they drew closer to the water, and part of the city was lined on the ocean's face by a giant wall.

The party walked up to a tavern and sat down around a large table, anxious for a good meal. "This'll be my first time having fish since leaving my home," Ranma commented. "Wonder what it's like here?"

Tifa looked at him, shaking her head. "It's… fish," she said flatly. "It's probably pretty fresh this close to the ocean, but what would be special about it?"

"Dunno," Ranma answered. "But you guys don't have chocolate, and my world doesn't have chocobos. So… maybe the fish are different too."

Tifa shrugged, before everyone took turns giving their orders to the proprietor, who set a tall glass of cool water at each setting as they ordered. "All right, then, we're all rested, and we are about to have a meal. What's afterwards?"

"Sephiroth," Cloud answered flatly, looking at each of them in turn. "If he's after the Promised Land, then we have to stop him."

Barret returned his gaze. "Fine, we go after Sephiroth, but before we do, I wanna hear this story of yours," he started, shifting slightly in his chair. "The one about Sephiroth and the 'real crisis for the planet' you were goin' on about before. If we're all goin' after him, I wanna hear it all."

A chorus of affirmation followed this, signaling that the others wanted to know as well. Cloud considered that for a long moment, as the tavern noises proceeded in the background. "All right then, I'll tell you what I know." He took a sip of his water, and collected himself. "When I was a kid, I wanted to be like Sephiroth… I'm sure a lot of kids had something similar, he was the face of SOLDIER for a long time, but that was why I joined SOLDIER. Eventually… I made it in, but by the time I did the war with Wutai was over, and when that was over a lot of the opportunity to gain rank went with it. So I ended up taking any missions that got posted, as a way to prove myself. For a couple years I was working alongside the strongest people in the world. I ended up working with Sephiroth on several missions, and I guess we became friends after that."

"Going on missions together led you to be friends?" Barret asked. "Doesn't sound like much to be going on there."

Cloud shook his head. "Maybe 'friend' is the wrong word… war buddy, maybe… anyway, he didn't talk much about himself, he was a bit older than I was, but after the time we'd spent fighting together, we'd gotten to the point where we trusted each other." Cloud took another sip, and Tifa watched him in silence. "After the war was over, it was SOLDIER's duty to put down resistance against Shinra, and to clean up any messes anywhere near the reactors. One day, a bit over five years ago… we got assigned together on a mission to Nibelheim, my and Tifa's hometown. It was… well… a lot of stuff happened, I'll try to explain it."

Aerith nodded and smiled. "It must have been fun, coming back home a hero and reuniting with childhood friends."

Cloud didn't answer for a long time. "It was… sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself. Before I get into this, I need you all to understand this about Sephiroth. He's... unreal, in a lot of ways. All the hype from Shinra about his power in battle, all the stories you've heard over the years… they don't come close. He is far stronger, in reality, than in any story you've heard about him. On our way to Nibelheim, our vehicle was attacked by a dragon… I stepped out to support him, but… he carved through the thing in two blows."

Tifa's jaw hung loose and she nodded absently, recalling the size and the power of the creatures Cloud spoke of. Most of the others had seen or at least heard of the kinds of creatures that wandered the wilder parts of the world. Ranma shook his head. "I don't want to interrupt, but… I'm kind of missing some of what you mean here. My world has legends and stuff, about dragons, but except maybe for one or two places in the world, nobody's actually seen one in living memory. How big are we talking?"

Cloud considered the question. "One of the Nibel dragons would probably _just _fit in the town square out there," he responded. "They have wings, they can fly and breathe fire, and they can carve through homes and other buildings like they're not even there. Normal SOLDIERs, even a First-Class like me, would need extra forces and backup to take them on, and… Sephiroth just… didn't. Ever. I wasn't his backup. I was just the tag-along." He took a moment to recollect his thoughts and take another drink. "I was fascinated by the way he fought, it was intense. Anyway, that's… I think it's important for you to understand his strength.

"We reached Nibelheim… I'd told him that it was my hometown, and I remember he asked me how it felt to be home. He said he didn't have a hometown… which sounded weird to me at the time, everyone's got a hometown, right? But he said he never really knew his parents, he was raised by Shinra. He told me that his mother, Jenova, died giving birth to him, and…"

"Wait, Jenova?" Barret cut him off. "That headless spooky thing we saw in the tower? That thing has the same name as Sephiroth's mother?"

Cloud nodded, but Tifa glared at Barret. "Don't interrupt him, you can ask your questions later," she chastised him. Barret shrugged.

"So you got to meet back up with a childhood friend, then?" Aerith asked. "That sounds romantic, almost."

"I was surprised, with Tifa, with the rest of the town, it had barely changed since I left." Cloud smiled for a moment, the memories of his childhood briefly breaking through even his stoic mask. "We didn't have a lot of opportunity to talk though… Sephiroth kept us on a tight schedule, we went to bed early the first night, and then straight out to meet our guide early the next morning… and the guide was Tifa." Cloud looked down at the table for a minute. "There was a reactor in the Nibel mountains. The mission we'd been given had to do with monsters showing up in increasing numbers. Shinra, naturally, wanted to make sure the reactor was safe… the town was technically a secondary concern, but… well, you all get how Shinra is, and back then I was stupid enough and naive enough to go along with it. I just believed that things would work out."

At that moment, the proprietor returned with a platter full of food and passed the dishes out to each of them, including fresh glasses of water at each setting. Ranma waited until the man had left, then took the plate of nearly raw steak in the middle and passed it down to Red, who tore into it with gusto. Each of them took a few minutes to tackle their respective dishes. "So… Tifa led you through the mountains?" Ranma asked. "Why not you? You were a local too."

Cloud took a moment to consider the question. "Even when we were kids, Tifa had the lay of the land up there," he answered. "I wasn't much good in the mountains, and I'd been gone a long time besides that. Tifa'd been better than anyone else in town by the time she was seven, and kept doing it the whole time I was in SOLDIER. Naturally she'd gotten hired on as our guide. Of course… I made a fool of myself, and didn't want her to go. I thought it would be too dangerous for her. Sephiroth wasn't hearing any of it, and we'd gone on anyway… myself, Tifa, Sephiroth, and two Shinra troopers from the regular army that'd been assigned as our support.

"It didn't take long for things to start going wrong, either," Cloud continued. "The paths through the mountains are dangerous. One part of the route took us over a long rope bridge between two peaks, and halfway across the bridge snapped. One of the troopers fell and we never saw him again. The rest of us regrouped, and continued on through the mountain itself until we reached the reactor. Sephiroth had our lone trooper wait at the entrance, and wouldn't allow Tifa inside. Said the reactor was full of industrial secrets. Turns out there was more there as well. Sephiroth believed that Hojo had been using part of the reactor to perform… some kind of experiments. The experiments had been creating the monsters that had gone around the mountains. And… there was a sign on a door leading to the innermost chamber… The sign read Jenova." Cloud took another bite and drank from his cup. "Sephiroth… did not take it well. He nearly carved the place open then and there, but I managed to calm him down enough for us to leave."

"Damn…" Barret muttered, shaking his head. "More I hear, more I hate 'em…"

Tifa nodded, taking a bite of her stew. "I… had no idea anything like that was going on in there… I remember, later, seeing the pods, but…" she lowered her head, trailing off.

Red poked his head up from under the table. "I wonder if that would explain anything about the increase in monster sightings in other areas as well. I would like to know more about this, if at all possible," he prompted.

Cloud shook his head. "Don't have much more to say about the reactor," he responded. "After that, we all hiked back down the mountains and into Nibelheim again. Sephiroth… was unreachable. He shut himself off completely, and stayed inside the inn without contact for the rest of the night. Afterward, he just… vanished. We all lost track of him for almost a whole day."

Tifa nodded. "I remember that," she confirmed. "Whole town was in an uproar over it, and even… even Cloud looked worried. Nobody'd seen him leave the inn, but the Shinra vehicles were still outside town, so he hadn't driven off, and he sure as hell wasn't _walking _out, in either direction. We were all about to start forming search parties… and then somebody saw him, peeking out from a window inside the biggest building in Nibelheim."

"I remember we all used to call it the Shinra Mansion," Cloud added, "when we were kids, because they owned the building, and any time any big suits from Shinra came into town they always used to stay there. Even after searching the place, the troopers couldn't spot him." Cloud raised his glass and drank from it, gulping the last of it down. "I stumbled onto what turned out to be a hidden entrance, that led underground to a big library of some kind. Sephiroth was there… poring over the library's contents like a man possessed. He didn't sleep, he barely ate or drank, and he stayed down there for five days. The troopers and I took it in turn to check in on him, but aside from basic necessities, he refused all contact and kept us shut out of the lower library."

There was a long silence shared between the party, a realization that the tale was coming to a head. "So… what happened then?" Ranma asked, genuinely curious.

"I… went down to the library on the sixth night. Sephiroth was…" Cloud paused for a moment, clearly looking for the right word. "He was different. Everything about him was focused, but... I didn't understand what he was talking about, but I knew whatever he was going on about, it was dangerous. He called me a traitor, he talked about the Ancients, the Cetra… He told me that he had been 'produced' as part of an experiment to create a being that had biological traits of the Ancients as part of him. And then he told me he was going to see his mother."

"You mean… Jenova?" Aerith asked. "That… whatever it was you all saw in Shinra Tower?"

Cloud nodded, still trying to keep that particular memory out of his immediate thoughts. "I was down there for all of three minutes, trying to skim through the books strewn about, but there was no order or sense to them. Some of them were code, some of them were formulas and equations that were so far over my head that it might as well have been coded. Even the book Sephiroth threw to the ground didn't have anything useful in it. So I turned back up and chased him up the stairs, but he was already gone. The troopers in the mansion were gone. And when I looked out the windows, Nibelheim was on fire.

"The entire town, every building and every structure, all of it was just covered in roaring flames," he continued. "I remember Tifa's mentor… I forget his name right now, but he was there, trying to pull people out of the burning homes. I did what I could to help, but I couldn't find anyone else alive. I turned and I saw, at the edge of the town, Sephiroth standing there, running through a villager with his sword. He left and went out of Nibelheim, towards the mountains again, towards the reactor. I followed him, but I couldn't keep up with him. By the time I got to the reactor, Sephiroth was out of sight. But on the reactor walkway, Tifa was there, mourning over her father. Sephiroth's sword was buried in his chest… it wouldn't take anyone much work to guess what had happened. Tifa picked up the Masamune and ran into the reactor. I chased after her, and I was… I just was too slow that day, no matter what I tried to do," he said, lowering his head in apology. "Tifa and Sephiroth were wrestling for control of the sword… he wrenched it out of her hands and… slashed across her body."

"I watched her," he whispered. "I watched her fall. I heard her scream in pain. I saw the blood. Sephiroth was… wrenching open the door to the reactor core, something, I didn't care anymore at that point. I ran to Tifa's side, I picked her up and moved her out of the way, trying to make her comfortable, and I gave her what healing I could… and then I went up the stairs after him. I… confronted him, while he spouted his nonsense about his mother, about all of us being traitors to the Cetra, and how he was going to revive his mother and take her to the Promised Land. We squared off… and… that's the end of my story."

The silence that greeted that abrupt statement was deafening. For a moment, nobody dared react, thinking it was a joke, but then they saw Cloud's face. "Oh _hell_ naw," Barret drawled, banging the table once with his fist, the impact causing the glasses on the table to jump. "That can't be alla it! What the hell happened _after_ that?"

Cloud shook his head. "I don't remember anything after that, for a long time."

"Not even about Sephiroth?" Ranma asked.

"If you're asking if I fought him…" Cloud shook his head. "I might have. But even today I don't think I'd stand much of a chance one-on-one. Back then I was just a kid... stupid, reckless, and eager to prove myself, but… I couldn't have beat him in a fight."

Tifa looked down at the table, clearly uncomfortable from the memories. "The official records... say that Sephiroth is dead."

"Yeah, but Shinra owns those records, they own the newspapers, and they own the media," Aerith countered. "You can't rely on anything they say."

"And more than that, I want to know," Cloud declared, slapping one hand against the table. "I _need_ to know what happened then. I challenged the great Sephiroth… and I lived to tell about it. Even if I accept all that, why didn't he just kill me? I don't understand any of it."

"You aren't the only one," Tifa added. "I survived too… I still don't know how, or what exactly happened between the time I was struck down, and the time I woke up in Midgar."

Aerith sighed, reaching out with one hand and giving Tifa a compassionate squeeze on her shoulder. "There's a lot here that doesn't add up," she said quietly. "I think right now we're all just missing too many pieces of the puzzle… actually, what about Jenova? It was in the Shinra Tower, but you said it was in Nibelheim back then? How'd it get up there? And how could it have gotten out?"

"Shinra could've moved it any time in the last five years," Cloud answered, waving a hand vaguely. "Best guess is that Sephiroth pulled it out when he assaulted the building and killed the President. I think… I think that's everything for now, unless anyone wants to add something?"

There was silence for several seconds, and Cloud appeared to be ready to go settle the bill with the tavern keeper. "Cloud," Tifa said, her voice subdued. "When you found me, in the reactor? After Sephiroth cut me? How bad was I?"

Cloud swallowed hard at the question. "You were in a bad way… even with the healing I was able to give you, you'd lost a lot of blood from the slash he gave you. I honestly didn't know if you would make it."

Tifa nodded, and looked down at her half-eaten stew. Cloud smiled briefly, and went to work on his meal. Ranma looked between the two of them, and remembered his promise to Red from the previous night. "Well, if nobody's got anything else, I might as well go over my story too," he said calmly. "There's been enough goin' on that it's probably worth it to get everyone caught up."

Aerith nodded. "I want to hear this too, I've been there since you got here, and I don't even know if I have the whole story."

Red perked up from below, resting his head on the table with his tongue lolling out. "I wouldn't mind a bowl of water, but I am also interested in hearing this. Unless I am mistaken, of all of us here, I have known you the shortest period of time. The… shape-changing you experience is fascinating to me on many levels."

"Well, don't expect a repeat performance if I can help it," Ranma grinned, as Tifa flagged down the tavern keeper to get a bowl of water. "Anyway… my name is Ranma Saotome. I'm 17 years old, and despite the fact that I keep meeting people while I'm transformed into my girl-half, I was born male and that's how I think of myself. I'm a martial artist, and heir to the Saotome School of Indiscriminate Grappling. And… this isn't my world. I first arrived here a little less than three weeks ago. My world is… I don't know how to describe all of the ways it's different, but even the geography is not the same. I live in Tokyo, the capital city of the island nation of Japan. And I've seen maps of this world… unless something weird happened, this is not the world I was born in.

"I think I've explained the absolute basics of the curse at this point to everyone," he said quietly. "I fell into a cursed spring of water, which is in a place with a whole bunch of other cursed springs. It happened a couple years ago, I'm still trying to find a way to cure it permanently so I can get my life back under some kind of control. How it works is that cold water turns me into a girl. Warm water turns me back into a guy. If it helps, try thinkin' of it as two halves of me, but sharing the same body. The limits to it turning on or off are… weird… it's magic or somethin', it's been around longer than most cultures and almost all the nations that currently live in my world. People older and wiser than me have spent their lives trying to figure it out, and the best they could come up with was 'bugger all', so I don't think I'm getting any closer than that to an answer about why or how it works."

The others collectively shared a look, and then turned back to Ranma. "You told me that this is only like one place in the whole world like that, right?" Aerith asked. "And they let people go there, still? It's not just like sealed up in rocks or something?"

Ranma shook his head. "Old ghoul told me once that the place has a kind of chaotic energy to it..." he waved one hand through the air vaguely. "Short version, the Joketsuzoku tried to seal it up a couple thousand years ago, but it didn't _want_ to be sealed or somethin' weird like that. So they put up a sign that says Keep Out. Course, pops didn't bother to learn a word of Chinese before goin' to China, but didn't want to admit that, so he told me it read somethin' else and I believed him, and then we both ended up cursed. He turns into a panda when he gets splashed."

Barret gave Ranma a sideways look. "The hell's a 'panda'?" he asked.

Ranma blinked. "Uhhhh..." he paused for a moment, collecting his thoughts. "Think a wild animal, maybe about three times as big as Barret, black and white spots all over its body, and it eats... bamboo, nothin' but bamboo, all day every day. Super lazy. Strong, aggressive, but lazy."

There was a pause among the others as this description filtered through the individuals at the table. Tifa scooped up a bit of her meal onto a fork. "So, how exactly did you get here anyway?" she asked, before popping the forkful of food into her mouth.

Ranma ran one hand through his dark hair in thought. "Honestly, I dunno... not exactly, anyway... though I got an idea about it. There's a jerk in my neighborhood, named Tatewaki Kuno," he continued, holding up his hands and counting off on his fingers as he proceeded. "Worst kind of guy. Selfish, self-absorbed, misogynistic, delusions of grandeur, pretentious, and completely dismissive of anything that doesn't fit into to his warped perception of reality. He's had a major _grabby hand-_" and he paused briefly to mime squeezing at his own chest in demonstration, the others reacting with appropriate levels of disgust, "-out for my fiance, Akane Tendo, since before she and I ever met. I think, somehow, something he did is what sent me here, but I couldn't tell you what… The last thing I remember back in Tokyo was him running at me with some kinda glowy katana. He shouted something about getting rid of me to be with his 'true loves'..." and the nearly retching sound from Ranma's mouth made clear what he thought of that. "He swung the sword, and it missed me by a mile. And then there was a lot of wind, and I got pulled into... a hole? I dunno how else to describe it. All I can say is that, if _he _did it, it'd be the first thing in over a year that even came close to causing me real damage.

"It's also because of him that I don't act the way I used to anymore," Ranma said, taking a bite of his fish. "About four months back, he tried… something. The details... ain't important, and it'd take too long to go into right now at any rate. What matters is that… if it'd worked, both Akane and I, as well as both of her sisters, my mother, one of my rivals, and my childhood friend, would have become obedient, simpering _toys_ for him." He looked down at the table, curling his hands into fists in his lap. "I know I'm strong. I know that I have enough strength to put my fist through a block of metal, which means that I have enough strength to do the same to another person. So… I hold back, a lot, as a result. Sometimes I hold back so much that _I_ get hurt. But that's fine, when _I'm_ the only one at risk, because _I_ can take the bruises, the hits, the cuts and scrapes. I'm okay with that because it means that whoever I'm facing down isn't doing that to people who _can't _take it, can't _defend_ themselves, can't _fight back_. I don't like bullies, I don't like people who use power as a weapon against those who have none of their own, and I _hate_ anyone who is willing to take away someone else's ability to live their own lives."

Ranma took a long moment, his face downcast, his gaze hidden by the short fringe of hair hanging out in front of his head. "When I found out what he was doing, I... snapped, a bit. I very nearly stopped holding back. I didn't kill him or anyone else, but I was sorely tempted, especially since he managed to worm his way out of any consequences for being a grabby little pervert to half the girls in school, including... well, me... for most of the time I'd known him. Instead, I stopped the little ritual he was planning. I wrecked his home, inside and out. I uprooted every ounce of plant life on his mansion's lawn and carved out the symbol for 'pervert' into the soil so that it would be visible from anywhere. And at the end of the day, I took two things from him. I took away the protection he received from his family, because aside from the consequences finally costing them some of their _reputation_, it had also finally cost them _too much money_. And the other thing I took from him was a solemn vow. If he was raw about it, he'd come after me, and me alone. Because I also gave him my own vow that if he ever went after someone else, for any reason at all, and I found out about it, I'd end him then and there."

Aerith and Tifa both looked at Ranma with mixed admiration and terror. Barret and Cloud looked at the young man with newfound respect. "Ranma," Red spoke up from below. "You said that changed the way you behaved. Yet even in the face of the necessary extremes of your actions, you seem to have acted in the best interests of not only yourself but also several innocent women. Why would you see this as a behavior needing change?"

Ranma looked down at him. "Because I used to act like him, some," he answered. "I wasn't nearly as bad, I wasn't a grabass, an' I didn't use my reputation to pay my way out of consequences, but there were habits of mine…" he shook his head, smiled a genuine smile, and looked up across the table. "I realized I needed to get better, to _be_ better, because even with the good I ended up doin' by makin' Kuno face some real consequences, I took a good long look at myself… and realized I didn't like all of what I saw in the mirror that night. So I did something about it. I stopped acting like that. It wasn't an instant thing, I was fightin' against stuff I'd been doing an' taking as normal for _years._ I had to build up somethin' in my own head that... _watched_ me, _for_ me... and made me look at actions I took for granted, and think about why I did that and who it might harm or affect. It's not perfect, and I still make mistakes. But I'm doin' my best to be better."

The others looked at him. "Your world is _weird_," Tifa said. "And _you're_ weird. But you're definitely our kind of weird."

Ranma grinned at that. "Yeah, don't take my experiences as 'normal' for my world. Even taking 'turns into a girl because of cold water' out of the mix, my life is pretty messed up compared to regular folks."

Barret looked the boy over, shaking his head. "Man, I gotta hand it to ya," he said, "you're a lot stronger than I thought ya'd be when I first met you."

Aerith looked over at him. "Are you going to keep traveling with us?" she asked simply.

Ranma nodded. "Personally, I wanna get home," he said, his eyes downcast for a moment. "I got no idea what's goin' on at home, if my friends and family are okay, if Kuno is tryin' ta get back to his usual grabby behavior, or if Akane's kicked his ass again. But… I made a promise, and I'm gonna keep it. Besides… I think this adventure of yours is gonna be important, and I think I wanna see what's gonna happen."

"Yeah, and you still need to teach me some of that advanced stuff you did before," Tifa chimed in.

Aerith glanced at Ranma. "Wait, you're taking her on as a student too?" Ranma briefly flashed a look of panic at the tone and words, before Aerith turned and smiled at Tifa. "That sounds like a lot of fun! Maybe we can _both_ learn some of those advanced techniques!"

Ranma's face relaxed back to a neutral expression, and he took a deep breath. "Yeah, that's the plan, so both of you better get some comfortable clothes to train in, we're gonna be starting tomorrow out on the fields while we're trackin' down Sephiroth."

The tavern keeper returned with a large bowl of water and set it down carefully on the floor. Red lapped at the cool liquid happily. "That reminds me," Cloud asked, "we don't really know where Sephiroth went to. He could be anywhere by now. We need to see if we can get some kind of information on his movements."

Barret grumbled his agreement. "Maybe start by askin' around town?" he suggested. "Big guy in a heavy black coat with a nasty lookin' sword, 's gonna stand out some."

"And if that doesn't work?"

Barret was about to respond, when a large man built like a barrel burst in through the tavern door, shouting loudly. The commotion caused most of the party to stand up around the table, as the young man nearly tripped into the tavern keeper. "Good grief, Bartello, what's got you runnin' around like this, boy?" the tavern keeper demanded, grabbing the shoulders of the newcomer to steady him.

"There's this loon in a heavy black coat going towards the swamp!" Bartello answered, his voice almost jarringly light for the size of his body. "I tried to warn him about the Zolom, but he nearly skewered me with that big sword of his. Said we'd all be getting ours soon enough, and then he took off."

Barret gave Cloud a look. "Maybe _start _by _askin' _around _town_?" he repeated pointedly.

"Yeah, yeah, fine," Cloud responded, before turning to face Ranma.

Ranma was currently shorter than he had been a few moments ago. When Barret had stood up, he had ended up stepping on the lip of the bowl of water that Red had been drinking from, flipping it into the air. The bowl was currently resting atop Ranma's head, as was the water that the bowl had previously contained.

"I hate this curse," Ranma's voice echoed from beneath the bowl.

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**A/N: My brain tossed out the pun that formed the chapter title before I even started writing the chapter. And my brain was really, really damn proud of that pun in the chapter title. I would have dropped it in favor of something else, but I honestly couldn't come up with anything better, so I ran with it.**

**This chapter is loaded with dialogue. I remember the twenty minute playable cutscene which was the Nibelheim flashback. I wanted to do justice to that scene, but I didn't want to dive in, because I know how I write and that would have been like three chapters worth of text of interminable drag. Nobody wants to sit through all that. At the same time I realize that the flashback is an important scene, sets up huge amounts of the plot and of Cloud's history, and does a lot to establish motivation. So it's also necessary. I did my best to find a balancing act between the two.**

**So, everyone who mentioned Ranma acting differently, out of character... this is why. I have been waiting for the opportunity to tell this story for a while now. This seemed like the best time to do it. Kuno _always_ rubbed me the wrong way. Not just for the story reasons, but if you look at his behavior and then look at internet assholes who send dick pics, threaten to dox sex workers, use their power and influence like a weapon to deflect consequences while harming the reputations of anyone who would try to bring them to justice... Canon Kuno always slipped right below that threshold, but only just barely.**

**This story's version finally stopped getting below the threshold. Offscreen, Kuno enacted a thing that would have basically enslaved all of the Tendo sisters, Ranma in her female form, and _anyone_ else in the house at the time who was female (read: Shampoo, Ukyo, Nodoka). Ranma's personal involvement aside, Ranma never liked bullies. This is arguably worse. The end result was that Ranma made sure that even if he managed to dodge the legal and moral consequences of being a womanizing piece of garbage, Kuno would have to face the direct social consequences of having caused more trouble than his family was willing to shield him from.**

**A secondary effect of this was that this version of Ranma stopped being 'nice' to Kuno. He still holds back the bulk of his strength, because he doesn't want to hurt people, he doesn't want to be the well-intentioned villain. But he unsealed the Umi-Sen Ken and Yama-Sen Ken and learned them fully. He picked up bits of the Hidden Weapons Style and other techniques he'd run across in the past and worked to further integrate them with Indiscriminate Grappling. He furthered his art. All of this was basically to make sure he wouldn't be caught flat-footed again. It's a bit Batman-y of him, but I feel it's reasonable for Ranma to learn from a situation like this, even if the lesson is a harsh one. And... he dropped his more juvenile behaviors. Mostly. The mark of a good character is that they are flawed, but the mark of a better character is that they learn to grow, in spite of or because of those flaws. This was Ranma's biggest moment of growth, seeing Kuno's past behavior and comparing it to himself, and realizing that, yes, he was demonstrably better than Kuno, but that didn't mean he needed to stop there. **

**I was always amused by the fact that, just after you're done this long flashback sequence, you step outside and some guy runs into town saying he's spotted Sephiroth. I wanted to have a bit of fun with that right after the long exposition.**

**Hope you like it! Comments and feedback welcome!**


	26. The Horse, The Boar, And The Serpent

**The last two weeks have been rough. Even allowing for the changes due to enforced isolation, just functioning day to day has been way more difficult than I'd have thought. Cabin Fever is awful. Throughout it all, I'm grateful for a strong network of friends online who have helped me on my worst days, and lots and lots of anime. To all you out there still struggling, I know it looks rough right now, and we may never get back to what we used to call 'normal'. But I have to have faith that we'll survive it. Right now, at this moment, survival is enough.**

**doraemax: Suffice it to say that I've had experiences with my own brand of Kuno in my life. I'll leave the details out of here, for everyone's sake.  
KuraraII: Essentially, the factor in 'what would Kuno do if he succeeded' would become a problem of Kuno's already warped perspective. He already refuses to live in a world where a girl tells him 'no.' So, what happens when he exists in a world where a half dozen women he's lusted after at various points are magically compelled to be incapable of saying no?  
NightmareKnight1: It's been a little bit since I've done my playthrough, but after the flashback, there's an NPC near the Kalm entrance who wasn't there before. If you talk to him, he points you in the right direction.**

**I haven't got a lot of new writing done since this COVID mess started, but I'm still keeping up on editing as much as possible. A day late, but here is the next chapter. Hopefully future ones will continue to progress as regularly as possible.**

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Chapter Twenty Six

The Horse, the Boar, and the Serpent

[ ν ] - εγλ 0007, December 14

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After a rapid supply run, the group asked around Kalm town about the 'Zolom' the young man had mentioned before. Fifteen minutes later, they met back up in the town square to review their findings. "So… let's run down the list here," Cloud said after having pooled everyone's collected information. "There's a thirty kilometer-wide swamp that sits between us and the abandoned mining cavern that Sephiroth was supposed to be headed for. There are these big serpent creatures that nest there, and we're about to walk through their territory during the middle of their mating season. The mountains are basically impassable, and we'll either need to catch a chocobo that can go fast enough to outrun them completely, or we run through and try to evade or fight them off."

"And they breathe fire," Ranma added, loading up a mess of gear on her new knapsack.

"And they breathe fire," Cloud confirmed. "And after that, the mine itself is supposed to be infested with monsters itself, which is why it was abandoned in the first place. Whatever we're doing, we need to do it fast if we're going to catch him."

Tifa shook her head. "Don't suppose it's too much for us to hope that the Zoloms just eat Sephiroth?"

Cloud turned to face her. "Nibel dragon," he reminded her, miming a sword swing with his hands. "Two strikes. Even if the Zoloms are as big and as tough as the locals say, we'd be lucky if those things even slowed him down."

"Where did that big guy come from, anyway?" Aerith wondered. "Maybe we can figure out how far behind we are with that."

"I asked im'," Barret piped up. "Says his family runs a farm about a half day's run from here. So if he came right out from there, and ran the whole way, we're about a day behind Sephiroth right now."

Red looked up at the others. "My people also have stories of the creature you speak of," he said calmly. "I admit, it has been long since I heard the tales, but I believe we may be able to pass by on foot, unnoticed… if we are careful."

Ranma looked down at Red. "If you say you can, then I'm all for it," she confirmed. "'Sides which, I doubt you're lookin' forward to gettin' strapped to my back again while we ride some weird horsy-birds."

"There is that, of course," Red mused. "Under the circumstances, I would more likely just run alongside."

Cloud glanced at Ranma with a smirk. "'Horsy-birds'… You really don't have anything like a chocobo in your world?" he asked, curious.

Ranma hesitated. "I wouldn't say _nothin' _like them, but…" she paused for a moment, thinking. "There's a bird like that in the wild in one or two parts of the world, but they ain't strong enough or calm enough to use as a mount, and they've got different color feathers. We have mounts, but they're four-legged and have short fur instead of feathers, and hooves instead of talons."

"Huh," he responded. "Weird."

Ranma chuckled at that. "Trust me, if the weirdest thing between our worlds was 'we use horses instead of chocobos' I'd die happy." She turned down to Red. "Which way are we headed, anyway?"

Red shook his head, a very human looking gesture. "We will need to travel much closer to the swamplands before any of my knowledge becomes relevant. Please, lead on," he said, facing Cloud.

"All right then," Cloud replied, lifting a framed rucksack and strapping the Buster Sword to one side, before slinging the entire pack behind him. "Everyone pack up and pick up, we've got ground to cover."

-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-

A half day's march had taken them into the heart of the pastoral fields and rich farmlands that made up much of the continent, where they made camp for the evening. Aerith had succeeded in obtaining several tins of stew, which nicely supplemented the tough bread and other travel rations they had stocked up on. A nearby creek let them refill for water, and Ranma managed to heat up enough clean water in their campfire to transform back before settling in for the night.

Ranma woke up before dawn, and roused Tifa and Aerith for their first joint training session. After getting the embers left in the firepit going again with some extra kindling so that breakfast could be made shortly, the three of them stepped out of the camp.

"So, what's first?" Tifa asked, having done little to combat the cold air besides to add a pair of leggings and arm-warmers to her normal outfit. Aerith had likewise added a layer beneath her regular dress, and was practicing her modified _kata_ to one side.

Ranma gave her a smile. "I've seen you in combat, some," he started, "but I wanna get a better idea of what you can do. So… hit me if you can."

"You _want _me to hit you?" Tifa asked, incredulous.

Ranma smirked, bouncing lightly on his feet as he settled into a familiar stance. "I want you to _try,_" he repeated. "You've got three minutes, starting now."

Tifa grinned and stepped forward, swinging her arms into a simple attack posture, before throwing a trio of swift jabs at Ranma's torso, all of which struck nothing but air. She watched Ranma's movements as he dodged the opening attack, and twisted her body sharply, turning a backhanded swing of her fist into the momentum for a fierce kick, which Ranma somehow wove his body between. She growled in frustration and unleashed a volley of blows, knees and elbows, feet and knuckles, turning the space in front of her into a minefield of attacks. Ranma began to parry and push aside the blows, carefully redirecting her force and momentum away from his center. A swift three-part low kick aimed at his legs forced him to quickly step backwards to avoid the blows.

Tifa took advantage of the space by charging him, her speed in the small opening astonishing Aerith as she watched. Tifa leaped forward and spun, pulling herself around into a spinning kick which Ranma ducked beneath. As she landed, she shifted her weight, rotating her opposite leg out to sweep hard at his ankles, which he barely hopped over. Sensing a moment of vulnerability, she continued moving into a rising flip kick, intending to strike him as he descended out of his jump. To her astonishment, Ranma somehow managed to push himself upward and forward in midair by resting his crossed palms onto her rising leg, and shoved off of her without disrupting her own momentum. He landed behind her and waited for her to regain her footing, smiling amicably the whole time.

Tifa responded by slamming her fists together, stepping forward and shifting her stance into a much more aggressive position, reminding Ranma somewhat of a traditional Muay Thai stance from his own world. Her blows became more calculated, two and three coming at a time, giving no time or space to move away from any one strike without another connecting. Ranma breathed in sharply and _blurred_, his own limbs matching her speed for speed. As she pressed her assault, he shifted his own strategy, finding her center of balance in each attack and _just _upending it, causing each of her combination strikes to sail wide as the force behind them was twisted to point in the wrong direction.

Tifa leaped backwards, growing steadily more infuriated by Ranma's unwavering smile. She forced down her anger, studying him, looking for an opening, returning to her basic stances. She stepped forward, and waited, watching every twitch of his body, making short jabs and feints, quick kicks and pulling her blows. She observed his movements, looking for patterns, any motion that overbalanced him, recovery from his parries, anything at all she could use to draw out a chance to land a solid blow. But despite her efforts, she could not find it. It wasn't that his defense was perfect, it was simply that his defense was better, or faster, than her attacks.

"Time," he called suddenly.

Tifa blinked, pulling back to a neutral stance, shaking out her limbs. "How the hell did you do that, anyway?" she demanded, taking a few deep breaths. "I thought I had you a dozen different times and each time you _just_ slipped out of the way. I've never seen anyone move that fast before."

Ranma finally let go of his grin and relaxed. "Not gonna lie, you've got a lot of skill," he remarked casually. "Adaptation, analysis, and I can tell if you'd managed to hit me it woulda hurt no matter what I did. As for what I did…" he took a deep breath, drew his arms into his own default stance, and his outline seemed to fuzz over at the edges, as if someone was rattling the entirety of his body back and forth. The moment passed, and he exhaled, his appearance returning to normal. "A while back, the old ghoul taught me somethin' called _Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken_. It's not really an attack on its own, just training the body to be able to move one's limbs at high speeds. The result of the training is that one can move their limbs fast enough to snatch chestnuts out of an open flame without burning themselves, which is how they named the technique. It took me a few months of practice, but I managed to expand the technique to affect my whole body. I call it _Inka-ten Hashiru_."

"You…" Tifa glared at the impossible boy, clenching her fists. "You can't be serious! How can you do something like that? Why wouldn't you use it all the time?"

"Second question first, because it hurts like hell to hold the stance for more than about a dozen heartbeats at a time, and the adrenaline crash afterwards is murder if I try to go longer," he answered. "I'm accelerating every part of my body and mind for a second or two. To me, it's like the whole world is going in slow-mo for that time, but what's really happening is that I'm going way faster than a human body oughta."

Aerith tried to wrap her head around this. "Oh! So it's like shaking a can of soda until it's about to explode?" she asked.

Ranma considered that. "I'd have gone with popcorn kernels in oil, but I like that better now that I think about it." He smirked and looked over at the two of them. "So, that's where we're going to start. Aerith, your skill with the staff has improved a lot over the last week or so, I can tell, and you're getting better at sensing with your chi. I want you to keep up your practice daily, and see how far out you can sense things. Tifa, I don't think you need any help fightin', so I'm going to try to catch you up on chi focus and sensing, and then you're both going to start the _Amaguriken_ training. Any questions?"

Tifa glanced between Ranma and the slowly rousing campers behind them. "You really think we can grab something out of a fire like that?"

"Not yet, you can't," Ranma answered, crossing both arms casually behind his head as they walked. "But both of you have a lotta potential, and I think you can learn it. For now, though, let's go get fed."

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The group ate, broke camp, and continued trekking across the farmland between Kalm and the swamp for another full day. By the afternoon of the second day of their travel across the low plains, mountain peaks were hazily visible in the distance, and they knew they were approaching the landmarks they had set themselves.

Something else approached them, as well. Ranma and Red both saw the dust cloud in the distance at almost the same time. "Are those… _chocobos_?" Ranma asked, the wonder evident in his voice.

"They are, indeed," Red confirmed, a strange smirk across his face. He looked up at the boy. "This truly is your first time seeing them, isn't it?"

It was barely a question, but Ranma nodded his answer regardless. The cloud of dust on the horizon began to draw closer, resolving itself into individual shapes. Tall, feathered and heavily built above their long, spindly legs, they somehow managed to appear both majestic and comical at the same time. Wheeling across the plain in an almost perfectly maintained formation, even at a full run, the creatures were The herd of wild chocobos trampled the land in front of them, seemingly fleeing from something. Something that was entangled in the beak of one of the chocobos.

"No…" Ranma muttered. "It can't be… _Ryoga_?"

A small black piglet wearing a familiar yellow-and-black kerchief around its neck struggled against the chocobo holding him captive, its beak tangled in the kerchief and holding him firmly. Another of the animals struggled under the weight of an enormous knapsack and a simple bamboo umbrella. Had the situation been less serious, Ranma likely would have laughed himself silly. As it was, however…

"Hey, Aerith! Need your help!" he called behind him. He looked down to Red. "Know anythin' about stoppin' a stampede?"

Red's face was a moderately scarred impression of perplexity. "If you are _that_ hungry for fresh meat, I am sure we can find an easier target."

Ranma shook his head. "Not for eating, we're gonna save him," he said, pointing to the chocobo carrying the piglet.

"You want to _save_ a _tiny animal_ from _chocobos_," Red declared flatly. He sighed and shook his head. "I will be very interested in hearing the reason for this later." With that, he charged forward, circling wide around the path of the herd of chocobos.

Aerith stepped up behind Ranma. "What's up?"

Ranma pointed at the charging birds in the distance. "Ryoga's in that mess, we need to get him out." He unslung his own pack and set it down. "Do what you can to get the piglet and get him to safety."

Aerith nodded, pulling her staff out and spinning it in her hands briefly. "I think... I can be more useful out here. Give me thirty seconds, then you can go in."

Ranma blinked at that, but nodded, stepping forward and giving Aerith some space. Aerith closed her eyes, her staff resting between her hands, and began reaching out her awareness, feeling the grass and soil beneath her booted feet. The gentle breeze around them all. She released the staff, and to Ranma's surprise it remained floating there in front of her, perfectly level. A soft aura seemed to emanate from Aerith's body, an energy that Ranma couldn't help but compare to a battle aura, but far gentler, more peaceful. Aerith reached out with her awareness, a sweeping line extending to the horizon, and for one brief, perfect moment, she was acutely aware of every single living being within more than a kilometer. And in that moment, she found the herd of chocobos, careening across the countryside, and spoke a single word into each of their minds.

"_Calm._"

The chocobos, almost as a single being, looked up and glanced around, their legs already slowing from a full run. Over the next hundred meters, they decelerated into a trot, then to small steps, and finally ground to a halt. The overladen backpack slipped off the rearmost chocobo's back and fell to the ground with a noisome thud, causing the nearest birds to hop a few paces away before settling again. Ryoga's porcine struggling slowed, as he caught sight of Ranma's familiar red tunic in the distance, and let out a sigh of relief.

Ranma glanced briefly at Aerith, still glowing softly in an eerie blue light, before he waved Red back over. He strode lightly into the herd, retrieving the transformed Ryoga and his bag, before darting back out and retreating to the rest of the group. Aerith lowered her arms, the staff dropping unceremoniously to the ground as the soft blue outline around her faded away. Her face was covered in sweat, strands of her hair matted to her forehead. She appeared as though she was about to fall over. The chocobos milled about idly, grazing in the field nearby.

"Okay, P-chan," he said quietly, pulling the piglet up to eye level and regarding him calmly, "these guys are friends, they know about Jusenkyo curses, and the one that looks like a wolf isn't gonna eat you. I'm gonna try to get you some hot water and a couple minutes privacy. Play nice when ya come out, will ya?" The piglet nodded, though managed to convey a level of grumpiness behind his porcine features. "Good. Okay, guys, the piglet here is a friend of mine, and we need to get him some hot water."

"That thing's a friend of yours?" Barret asked doubtfully.

"...what's a 'piglet'?" Tifa inquired, puzzled.

Ranma blinked in shock, and then remembered himself. "Right, different world, different creatures. Gonna get used ta that eventually. This," he said, holding up the tiny black animal, "is a piglet. He's cursed, like me, but unlike me, he can't do human things when he's cursed. I know it's early, but I think we oughta make camp so he can make himself presentable."

"Why would that be a problem?" Aerith asked, still panting slightly from her earlier effort.

Ranma smiled mirthlessly. "Because our clothes don't transform with us," he explained.

"Why would that- oh!" Aerith caught herself as she realized the implications. "But wait, you keep your clothes when you transform! Why doesn't he?"

"Because I'm still human-shaped when I'm transformed. Ryoga ain't that lucky. Whatever he _was _wearing is probably laying out in a field somewhere." Ranma sighed, struggling slightly under the weight of Ryoga's travel pack. "Hopefully he still keeps a change of clothes in his pack."

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Camp had been pitched up in good time, a fire started, and a bowl of water had been heated for Ryoga. One of the tents had been vacated so that Ryoga could transform and re-dress himself in relative privacy. A few moments later, the lost boy stepped out of the tent, dressed in his usual nomadic gear. "So, I guess we're not back in Japan yet, are we?" Ryoga asked flatly.

"Nope," Ranma replied. "Found out some more details this week, though, you might wanna sit down for all this." Ryoga sat near the fire, and Tifa passed him a bowl of the stew they had obtained from Kalm. "Okay, everybody, introductions all around. This is Ryoga Hibiki, an' right now he's the closest thing I have to a friend from my world. He's also got a curse, don't give him a hassle over it if you can."

Red was busy sniffing at Ryoga, still trying to understand the nature of the transformative magic. "You don't smell like an animal..." he said in an inquisitive tone.

"I hope not," Ryoga answered. "I'm human, and I'm _not_ food."

"I understand this, but it is still puzzling," he continued. "It is not just a physical change. For both of you, you each _smell _like what you appear as while you are transformed. It is… confusing for one such as me."

Ranma looked between the two of them. "That's Red. He talks a lot, but he's okay." Ryoga extended a palm, and Red responded by dropping his paw into it. Ryoga gave the wolf a smile. "You remember Aerith, from back in Midgar," he continued, and they exchanged pleasant waves across the campfire. "The other girl is Tifa, she's at _least_ as good a martial artist as Akane, so don't get on her bad side." Tifa flashed a smile. "The guy built like a tank, complete with the cannon on his arm, is Barret." Barret inclined his head. "And the blond with the big stick is Cloud." Cloud shrugged and said nothing.

Ryoga gave a short bow of his head to each of them. "Thank you all for your help."

"So… got caught in a rainstorm out in the fields?" Ranma asked.

"No," Ryoga answered grumpily. "I tried to ride one of those bird-things. I saw some other people riding some, but it's a lot harder than I thought. The whole flock ran into a lake while I was tangled up in the middle of 'em."

Ranma stifled a grin. "Extra points for finding a new way of transforming, at least. Been holding up aside from that?"

"Hold up," Barret cut them both off. "Gonna tell us anything more about this guy? How the hell'd he get here anyway?"

Ranma glanced at Barret, then at Ryoga. "You wanna tell 'em, or me?"

"You do it," Ryoga answered quietly. "They're your friends, aren't they? They'd probably get it better if you tell 'em."

Ranma nodded, before turning back to the others. "Ryoga has… a really bad sense of direction."

There was a long tense silence, as the story failed to unfold even another word beyond that point. "Is… is that it?" Tifa asked. "Is that the whole story?"

"Kinda."

"The hell kinda explanation is that?" Barret growled, gesturing with his good hand. "You tellin' me he _lost _his way here?"

"That's pretty much it, yeah," Ranma said, running one hand through his hair in frustration. "Look, there's no way I can explain this in words where you're gonna understand it. But I promise ya, if he starts walkin' with us, he'll vanish before ya know it."

"Ranma told me," Aerith chimed in, "that Ryoga once got lost on the way between his own home and the empty space immediately behind his home…" A chorus of disbelief surrounded this statement. "...for three days," she finished.

A cacophony of comments erupted from the party. "That's absurd," Red declared over the sound of the others. "How could someone like that even survive _your _world, let alone ours?"

"See, now that's a good question," Ranma said brightly, "and it's got a good answer to boot. Ryoga, mind if I use your umbrella a sec?"

"Long as I get it back in one piece," he shrugged.

Ranma stepped over to Ryoga's pack and unfastened the umbrella from the top. _Still heavy to me, even after all my training_, he mused, and held it out to Tifa. "Lift it."

Tifa grinned and stood up, walking around the campfire to meet Ranma. She gripped the shaft of the umbrella just underneath Ranma's hand, and he let go. Tifa felt a sudden jerk as gravity took hold and without even realizing it found herself pulled roughly to one side, the immense weight having caught her off guard. "What-" she gasped out, having to brace her legs against the umbrella to keep it from tipping over again. "What the hell is this thing?"

"Yeah, I don't even know what he's got shoved inside there," Ranma admitted, "but he can hold it in one hand like a rapier and he can swing an electric pole around like a club. And as far as his durability, I doubt any of you'd be able to put a mark on him unless you were gonna try to kill him. _I_ can't even beat him in a straight fight anymore."

Ryoga looked up at him, surprised. "Kami, you're actually admitting it."

"Yeah, yeah, don't let it go to your head, P-chan," Ranma teased, pulling the umbrella back to vertical. After a moment, he turned to look at Ryoga. "I know I'm gonna regret this, but why were you so upset with me when you saw me last week?"

There was a brief silence as Ryoga eyed the other martial artist. "Because the last time we saw each other, you sent me flyin', remember?"

"Yeah, I remember, that was during a spar." Ranma returned the lost boy's odd gaze. "Ya lost, remember?"

"You didn't have to throw me out of the dojo, ya know!" he cried angrily. "My pack came loose and landed next to me on the ground, but this complete asshole of a goose grabbed it and pulled it into a lake!"

Ranma was stunned. "A goose," he repeated carefully. "Less than a meter tall? Feathers, big wings, flat beak, webbed feet?" Ryoga nodded, frowning. "And not wearing glasses?"

"It wasn't Mousse, if that's what yer askin'," Ryoga answered with a grumble, crossing his arms.

"A goose... lifted your pack. The pack you carry... that has _this umbrella_ on it, and dragged it into a lake." Ryoga nodded. Ranma was at a loss. So many questions ran across his mind that it was hard to find a starting point, but after a good five seconds he settled on, "_How?_"

Ryoga shrugged. "Hell if I know," he answered, his posture stiff. "It took me hours to get it back without transforming, and then I had to take all my clothes to get dried. It… took a while to find a laundromat. So, yeah, I was angry with you after that." He let his shoulders relax some. "Still truce until we get back, but you better let me have that punch."

Ranma nodded. "Deal," he said. He carefully hefted the umbrella to pass it back to Ryoga, and then noticed Cloud eyeing it. "Wanna try?"

Cloud shook his head. "I know how strong Tifa is," he commented. "If she can't lift it, I know it's heavy. I might be able to, but I'm not gonna be fighting with an umbrella if I can help it. Just... thinking about your world, about how... contradictory it all is. It sounds peaceful, but then there are people like you, barely even adults, who train their bodies to… fight, grow strong, what? You say you don't have magic, but your friend turns into a piglet. You say you've got hundreds of countries across the planet, and no single world government. I don't want Shinra running things any more than the next person-"

"And the next person is me," Barret cut in, "so I hope this little speech of yours is goin' somewhere."

Cloud shook his head. "I just wonder if we're going to make any difference, is all. What if we all left? Went to Ranma's world, lived out the rest of our lives there instead. What if this whole world is already too broken, too set in its ways, and everything we do to fight against it is pointless?"

"And what if it rained horses, would you wish for fish?" Ryoga grumbled, mangling the phrase somewhat in his frustration. "It ain't always about winning or losing. It ain't always about 'change the world or die trying'. Sometimes it's about fighting to protect someone or something you care about, or just for the folks who can't fight on their own, or who've forgotten _how _to fight or even that they _oughta _fight. Sometimes it's about holding up a light in the darkness, drawing a line in the sand, however you wanna say it. It's about fighting, to give others a reason to fight."

Cloud looked at Ryoga, and took a deep breath. "You don't even know what we're fighting for, though."

"Do you?" Ryoga countered. Cloud glared in response, but said nothing. "Doesn't always matter _why _you fight. Doesn't always matter _what _you fight. Sometimes, the only thing that matters is what you're standing between."

Barret glanced between Cloud and Ryoga, and nodded. "I know that feelin', that's fer sure. I wanna say I'm doin' all this cuz I'm noble and fighting against evil and alla that, and maybe that's the result of what I'm doin'. But if I'm honest, I'm fightin' to make sure my daughter has a world to grow up in."

Aerith nodded. "I want to fight to protect my mother… and anyone else who would get hurt."

Red gave a happy wag of his tail and looked around at the others. "I fight to protect my home, my people, and my grandfather."

"I'm fighting because I want to make sure nothing like Nibelheim ever happens again," Tifa said defiantly.

Cloud nodded. "I suppose I'm fighting to bring closure to my own past," he said after a long pause.

"I'm fighting because I promised," Ranma said simply.

Ryoga nodded. "I'm not getting involved in this one, though."

Ranma looked over at him, genuinely surprised. "Why not?"

"Because whatever's going on," he answered simply, "it's not my business. Besides, you probably don't have time to lead me around like a child. I'm not an idiot, I'm not gonna be your pity case, and I'm not gonna waste your time slowing you down. I'll stay in camp the night, and we'll go our separate ways in the morning."

Ranma shook his head, but relented. "Fine, that's probably the smart decision anyway. Oh, before I forget, if you see a tall man in a black coat and carrying a sword longer than you are tall… keep away from him, he's dangerous."

Ryoga considered this for a moment. "You mean an _o-dachi_?"

"A what?" Cloud asked, confused.

"I'll explain later," Ranma said quickly, waving his hands to forestall any other questions. He turned to Ryoga. "You saw him? When? Where?"

"It was a couple of days ago," Ryoga answered. "It was somewhere cold, there was this enormous tree, and I saw a man with silver hair, wearing a black cloak with a long curved sword on his hip. He didn't look that dangerous though. He looked like he was dead."

Ranma frowned. "What made you think he was dead?"

Ryoga scoffed. "Well, I didn't check for a pulse, but there was the part where he looked like he was frozen inside a ten meter thick block of clear rock crystal, that was my big clue," he answered sarcastically.

Ranma shook his head. "Can't be him, then," he said simply. "The man we're chasing right now is named Sephiroth. And except for being dead in a rock, pretty much matches the description you just gave. Just… trust me on this one, if you see him, stay the hell away. He was once a pretty respected warrior, but he set fire to an entire town several years back, and he's already killed people since then."

"All right, I'll keep my eyes open," Ryoga responded. "Is there any more of that stew? Reminds me of my mom's cooking."

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After the meal, Ranma approached Tifa again. "All right," he began. "Far as I can tell, you don't use... whaddya call it here, lifestream arts, in your techniques, am I right?"

Tifa shook her head in response. "No, sensei," she replied. "My master, Zangan, said that it would take years of practice for me to learn how to channel lifestream effectively."

"Well, he wasn't wrong," Ranma answered flatly. He reached down and took off his flats, setting them off to one side, letting his feet rest in the cool grass and rich soil for a moment, enjoying the sensation. "Aerith has a headstart on this because of... I guess, because she's part Ancient? But that doesn't mean you're going to be stuck behind forever." He turned and gave Tifa a grin. "Just means you're gonna get the crash course."

Tifa blinked. "You really think you can teach me to do the same kinds of things you've been teaching Aerith?" she wondered aloud.

Ranma shook her head, taking a few steps forward. "Gonna tell you the same thing I told her on day one. She ain't your competition. Neither am I. _You_ are," he said, jabbing a finger into Tifa's collarbone. You try to use her an' me as markerstones for your progress, you're gonna be disappointed a lot. When you compare yourself to anything, you compare yourself to _you_."

Tifa froze, the words echoing in her mind. "'It's... not about how you measure up to the master...'" she recited slowly, the words coming back to her, "'it's about being a better version of you at the end of the day than you were when you woke up.' I... Master Zangan told me the same thing. I remember I'd been his student for all of a month. I'd been trying to learn one of the basic techniques of his style... And I couldn't do it. I got frustrated, angry, and he told me that. It still took me another two months to get that technique down," she said softly. "But I managed it. And every day between then, I was slowly getting better."

Ranma gave a grin. "Your master was smart, then," he commented. "You wouldn't believe how long it took me to figure that one out." He took a deep breath. "Chi, or lifestream, whatever you wanna call it, is the energy we all have inside us. There's a lot of ways a martial artist can use that energy, but right now we're going to focus on one of the basics. Use your chi to find someone else."

Tifa nodded and squared herself up. "All right, tell me what to do."

Ranma nodded, preparing his chi.

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"Ryoga."

It was full night, and a fire had been lit. The lost boy looked up, and saw Ranma as he approached. "What's up?"

Ranma plopped down unceremoniously about a meter away from Ryoga. "You're really leavin' in the morning?" Ryoga hesitated, but nodded. "These guys could use someone like you."

"Ranma, I meant what I said," he answered in a gruff tone. "I can tell from the look of this crew you're traveling with. Whatever you're mixed up in, it's serious. I ain't afraid of that, but..." he leaned back, staring up at the night sky. "If it's serious, then you're not gonna have time to keep me in sight. So I'm not gonna burden ya with that. Gonna try to get back home instead."

Ranma paused for a moment. "Home," he muttered. Thoughts of Tokyo flashed across his memory , of the familiar streets of Nerima ward, of Furinkan High School, of the ice cream parlor, the burger shoppe, Tofu's clinic, and the Tendo Dojo. Thoughts of his family, his friends, his many and varied rivals, and Akane. He took a deep breath. "Then... I gotta ask a favor."

A moment of quiet passed between them, a cold breeze slipping across the plain as they sat there. "What kinda favor?"

Ranma turned to face the other boy. "It's been three whole weeks, Ryoga. I've been stuck here that long. I... miss home. I think... for the first time, maybe I'm startin' to understand what it's like to be Ryoga Hibiki. I don't know where I am, I don't know when or if I'll ever get back, or if I'll see my friends, my family..." He paused, considering his words carefully. "What I'm tryin' ta ask is, if you get home... and I ain't back yet... I want you to do everything you can to find Akane, and tell her what's going on. Tell her about Gaia, tell her about this place, about what's going on. Tell her I'm trying to get back. And... if that asshole Kuno's still hangin' around, break his legs or somethin'."

Ryoga stared at him throughout the winding, rambling confession. "Man, you're lucky this isn't last year," he said off-handedly, "or I'd've probably just let you sit there and squirm." He gave a chuckle and looked away. "Yeah, if I get back to Earth, and if I can get back to Tokyo when I'm there, I'll tell Akane."

Ranma smiled softly. "Thanks, buddy." He tilted his head back and stared upwards at the alien night sky. "Wonder if you can see Earth from here..."

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True to his word, Ryoga stayed within the campsite until they broke for the morning. True to Ranma's word, he had vanished completely from sight within fifteen seconds of them parting ways. "He'll be fine," Ranma insisted when the others asked after Ryoga. "I've literally seen him walk straight through a mountain. Which would probably be useful right now, but that's another story. By the way, Aerith, how did you do that thing with the chocobos, anyway?"

"I… I just _felt _them, somehow," she answered, doubtful of her own response. "I didn't know if I could do it, I just... did it. I don't know if it's this chi training you've been putting me through or what, but…" she trailed off, still confused.

"Well, whatever it is, you're getting a lot stronger," Ranma answered. "I think Tifa's training session went well last night too, so once I'm sure she can do some basic chi sensing, I'm probably gonna start gettin' ready to put you both through the _Amaguriken _training."

Aerith beamed at that, and they came to a stop. Stretching before them, to the horizon and beyond, lay an enormous, murky bog. Short, gnarled trees sprung up periodically, their branches hung with moss and ivy. The swamp may have only been a half-meter deep or less near the shores. It seemed as if much of the sounds of wildlife shifted as they approached, most of the noises falling away into silence.

"Probably gonna wait until we're past this, though," he admitted. "Not gonna get much of a fire goin' here."

Red sniffed carefully around the shores, looking for his hidden path. "Much has changed here. The shores are further out than they used to be. It is possible my people's route has sunk," he said quietly.

"You sure we're in the right place?" Barret asked doubtfully.

Red nodded in reply. "The landmarks are the mountains themselves, the positions of the peaks in the distance. But the old tales said that the water would still be distant at this point. The entrance should be about two hundred meters… in that direction," he said, gesturing in the direction of the bog with one paw.

"Which means, either it's already flooded, or it would flood the moment we opened it," Cloud finished. "So, we either go back into the fields and try to catch chocobos… or we press on." As if to indicate his own choice, he drew the Buster Sword from its position on his back. "We're already behind Sephiroth, we can't afford to lose more ground. Everyone, make sure your gear is secured, we're going through."

The others nodded their understanding, and took a few moments to tie down anything that would produce extra sound. "Well, looks like I get to be a girl again," Ranma grumbled. "Oh, joy." Without another word he stepped into the murky bog, her body shifting forms as she walked. The weight of her pack shifted slightly, but she adjusted the shoulder straps and started walking.

"Hey, Red, how far across is it, anyway?" Tifa asked.

Red thought for a moment. "According to our tales, the safe path reached the dry shores on both sides and only took an hour at a walking pace. I would guess that we may be able to cross within two hours if we are fortunate."

They continued walking in relative silence for nearly an hour, the murky waters and the mists which obscured the center of the bog making it difficult to hear or see much further than throwing distance. Ranma could understand why something like this Zolom would make its home here. It was a perfect hunting ground for anything that could survive here, and a perfect trap for anything that wandered in. Her eyes would be useless here in the dense fog. She took a deep breath and focused her attention on the water, feeling out for any ripples approaching them. "Guys," she called out calmly. "Everyone freeze."

The party came to a halt, standing still in the knee-deep water. "What is it, Ranma?" Aerith whispered from behind her.

"I think... we're being followed," she spoke slowly. "There's something moving… something big. I feel the ripples in the water. When I say, everyone take one step forward and then stop again, but be ready to run." She exhaled, then drew in another breath. "Now."

The six of them stepped forward, an odd staccato march for the left foot in the middle of the bog.

In the distance, something hissed loudly.

"_Run!_" Ranma shouted.

All six of them took off at a full sprint, moving as fast as they could in the knee-deep water. Just as they emerged from the fog onto a small shoal in the middle of the bog, the water around them rippled sharply, and an enormous shadow in the water began to unfurl itself. The creature resembled a cobra in most respects, including the enormous curved hood across its head. The primary visible differences at the moment was that it was nearly 15 meters long, and it looked fully capable of devouring them all whole. The far shore was in sight, but now the Zolom blocked their path, swaying menacingly in the water.

Cloud pulled his blade forward, shucking his pack free onto the shoal. "Everyone, get ready!"

Barret strode out in front and opened fire, unleashing a barrage at long range. The creature reared back briefly, before diving forward at Barret, its fangs missing but knocking him prone with the blunt hood on one side. Cloud leaped up and swung at the head of the serpent, but before his blow could land, the Zolom thrashed sharply to one side, colliding with Cloud in midair and causing his swing to fall flat.

Ranma and Tifa charged in from either side, aiming instead at the serpent's neck, hoping to disable or at least wound it, but the creature's scales were thick and seemed to absorb their blows. Red charged forward, sinking his fangs into the neck and diving away as the Zolom raised back up. Ranma dashed over to Barret and tugged the man to his feet. "Hey Aerith!" she called out. "Think you might be able to shut this one down too?"

"I'm trying," she shouted back, "but it's a lot harder here for some reason!"

Tifa threw a Fire spell forward, striking the creature in the face. Barret loaded a fresh belt of heavy ammo into his gun-arm, pouring all of the rounds into a single **Big Shot**, before reloading again. Cloud hurled a bolt of Thunder at the Zolom, causing it to twitch in agony as the current spread into the water around it. A roaring hiss drew their attention, as the serpent reared up higher, towering over them at almost its full height.

"Oh hell," Ranma muttered. "Scatter!"

The six of them moved, but it was not quick enough. The Zolom struck from above, narrowly missing Aerith with its massive fangs, but pushing hard as it struck its head against her torso, sending the woman flying to the far edge of the shoal, unconscious. Tifa immediately darted towards Aerith, throwing as much as she dared into a Cure spell, while Cloud charged in and carved a vicious pattern with his **Cross Slash** into the Zolom's exposed face. The serpent drew back, raising back to its full height, its mouth glowing oddly. A low growl seemed to echo from everywhere at once, and the Zolom spat out an enormous orb of radiant flame.

The fireball struck the shoal and erupted into a Beta explosion, throwing everyone aside with the force of the impact. Ranma did her best to brace against the shockwave, but even she was knocked flat as the heat rushed outwards, the water surrounding the shoal beginning to steam from the intense temperature. She waited for the sudden wind to pass, then pushed herself to her feet, noticing her friends already in deep trouble. Cloud and Tifa were already struggling to their feet, but it was clear that they were hurting. Barret was on his knees, breathing ragged and heavy, but refusing to give up, firing at the Zolom with abandon. Red lay on his side behind Barret, twitching in pain. Aerith was standing, but barely, using her staff to prop herself up as she inched forward,

"Okay, I've had enough of this," Ranma growled, striding forward, fists clenched. She felt an odd tingle of energy surround her, but ignored it and charged. As she reached the edge of the now-burnt grass, she leaped into the air, feeling the energy begin to coalesce in her mind and her body, an aura of glowing orange and red. She felt the now-familiar snap behind her eyes and reached for it, letting it happen. She raised her arms over her head and felt the energy pouring into the construct, a titanic orb of chi and flame and something else she didn't know how to label. As the energy filled the air above her, the Zolom reared its head back, angling for another strike. But at that point it was too late.

"_**Mahō no Ao Ka Jūden: Beta!**_" she screamed, throwing the energy forward at the Zolom as it began to move forward. She fell backwards, flipping once in her descent and landing three-point, crouched on one knee. The Zolom tried to swerve to avoid the attack, but its momentum was too great. The orb collided with its head and detonated immediately. There was a burst of almost blinding red light, an enormous cloud of raw fire, and a shockwave of air and heat that made the party drop again to the ground to avoid being cast into the water.

When the shockwave passed, the damage was made abundantly clear. The Zolom was in pieces. Its head was nowhere to be seen; several chunks of steaming, burnt snakeflesh and fragments of bone cascaded down about their heads. About half of the serpent's body lay exposed in the bog water, spasming from side to side and oozing blood. Tifa staggered forward and began tossing Cure spells at the others, before grabbing Ranma's collar. "How did you do that?" she demanded.

"...do what?"

"You just... " Tifa began, but Cloud stepped behind her and placed one hand on her shoulder.

"We need to get moving, Tifa," he said calmly. "There are more of those things out there, and if they come running, we're not going to last long here."

Tifa released Ranma, and turned on Cloud. "You can't be-"

"I want answers too," Cloud interrupted, glancing around at the swamp, hearing the distant sounds of more of the overgrown serpents. "But not here. Not now. When we're across, then you can ask." Tifa glared at him, but nodded, and turned back to get the others on their feet. "You're going to answer her question, when we get to safety?" he asked Ranma under his breath.

"If I know the answer, yeah," Ranma said simply. "I dunno what the question is yet though." She pulled out her materia bracer and aimed a Cure spell at Cloud, but nothing happened. "Huh… is it broken?" she mumbled, before shaking her wrist.

Cloud glanced down at the bracer, seeing the materia equipped in it, and stared at her in disbelief. "I think... we better start moving," he repeated, corralling his own thoughts. "If you can carry my pack, I can carry Red."

Ranma nodded, and they continued onwards.

* * *

**A/N: LIMIT BREAK UNLOCKED.**

**Here's a long one... The way I normally write these I could have split this to two chapters, but in the past where I split up chapters to keep salient points from getting overwhelmed, I felt here it was needed to get all of this out of the way in one go. Also, you have read this right, this chapter spans almost three full days of travel across the Eastern Continent. I can say that, barring some major events in the future, I don't foresee the party spending any time whatsoever at the Chocobo Farm.**

**I did write this chapter way back in like November when Untitled Goose Game was memetically popular. Obviously that's been a while, but I think the game's still well known enough that I left it in.**

**Ranma's techniques...**

**Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken: Variously, the Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire Attack, Imperial Roasting Chestnuts Fist, or the Chestnuts Fist attack, is a technique of sorts taught to Ranma by Cologne, one of the matriarchs of the Chinese Amazon tribe and Shampoo's great-grandmother. Less of an attack on its own, it is nonetheless named for the training regimen in which it is taught, where students are made to pull chestnuts out of an open flame. The result of the training is an increase in attack speed, such that they can land a flurry of blows in such a small space of time that it appears to have only been a single punch.**

**Inka-Ten Hachiru: Flash-Point Step. An extension of the _Amaguriken_ training, extending the speed increase to the whole body. The visual effect is such that it appears that Ranma's body is blurring in air to the unassisted human eye. Ranma is still working on this one, so he can't hold it for more than about three seconds at a time without experiencing significant physical distress and eventually severe pain. But during that time, his reflexes and reaction times are boosted significantly, and he can move extremely quickly over short distances. The technique is named for the term used in chemistry when a flammable substance is at a temperature that causes it to release enough vapor to be ignited from the air.**

**Mahō no Ao Ka Jūden: Literally, Blue Magic Overcharge. The characters are going to be discussing this in the next chapter.**

**Aerith's abilities...  
Note: Aerith's techniques are (possibly badly) translated in Greek. My logic is that the text used for the Gaian calendar is based on an older form of Cetran script.**

**φωνή της γης (Voice of Gaia): Aerith has discovered a limited ability to communicate with non-hostile animals native to Gaia. The simpler the concept, the easier it is to convey.**

**Hope you liked it! Comments and feedback welcome!**


	27. In The Darkness

**So... that took longer than expected by far. First off, I am alive and doing well. I honestly hope the rest of you are too. This chapter was delayed significantly due to some... let's say adjustments that I needed to make to deal with extended work-from-home conditions, and the fact that my existing circumstances were causing some anxiety issues. I'll skip the fine details for now. I have barely written a word of text in eight weeks. I'm somewhat disappointed, in part because writing is something I deeply enjoy, and also because this story is bringing me a lot of good feelings. So I'm going to at least get back to editing until my muse returns.**

**Comments!  
weebee: In particular about Cologne, I always viewed her as far craftier than she let on. She felt like the kind of character who would tell a contrarian like Ranma "You can't possibly learn this technique" just so that he would go through the effort of proving her wrong. As to Tifa and Aerith learning some of the techniques, my thought process is that they each represent about half of Ranma's capability... which is a very different thing from saying that they are each half as strong as he is. Ranma has a lot of skill and some talent, but he is also spread across a lot of different disciplines. Aerith and Tifa are each specialists, as their innate skills go (respectively, lifestream manipulation and bashing heads). The challenge isn't in their skill levels, it's in learning the other half.  
doraemax: Ryoga hasn't been idle over the last several months either. Ranma not being able to beat Ryoga in a straight fight anymore is more a matter of Ryoga having trained up his durability to even more absurdical levels. If anyone in this series would be _likely_ to be bulletproof, it'd be he (he's not, because then there's no drama, but still). Basically, these days he can win fights by outlasting his opponent's desire to kill him.  
Hiryo: Welcome to the party! _*looks back*_ Wait, I made a Die Hard reference and didn't realize it? Wow, I must be slipping. :D**

**I'm really glad that all of you are still sticking with me on this trip. As a result of COVID-related stresses, I'm more or less abandoning any pretense of an update schedule until further notice. Updates will still happen, and I am planning for them to occur on Sundays when they do. But aside from that, we're going as the ability to proceed hits me. Sorry for that, but I feel it's better to write well and be relaxed than to get stressed out over meeting an arbitrary deadline and add problems to something I enjoy doing. Please stay safe, all of you, and I hope to see you on the other side. **

* * *

Chapter Twenty Seven

In The Darkness

[ ν ] - εγλ 0007, December 16

* * *

The swamp was cleared without further difficulty, though there was a great deal of murmuring between them. After another half hour's march had been put between them and the serpent-infested swamp, Cloud called them to a halt and everyone started setting up camp for the night. There was a certain amount of wariness among them, so much so that even Ranma realized the others were keeping more than just a respectful distance from her. She remained quiet until the campfire had been started, but even as they sat down to warm up and dry their clothes, the tension and awkward silence continued.

"Okay, so… what's up?" she asked finally. "You lot're actin' like I just grew another head."

Tifa glanced to either side, meeting the eyes of each of the others in turn, before glaring at Ranma. "You did something back there that… by all rights shouldn't have been possible, for any human, ever," she began. She hesitated, and looked over to Cloud, trying to verbalize what she had seen. "You used Enemy Skill... and you did it without a materia."

"I _what_?" Ranma blurted out, looking over the materia bracer strapped to her wrist in confusion. "What's 'Enemy Skill'? Why's it so weird I'd be usin' it?"

Cloud glanced over at Ranma, and reached down to his own heavy bracer, pulling out a single yellow orb that Ranma hadn't noticed before. "I found this when we were still in Shinra Tower… it's a special materia, it's incredibly rare, and it allows the user to learn the kinds of magic that some monsters use. People call them Enemy Skills. I had this one in my bracer, during the fight. The Zolom's fire breath attack… was learned by the materia during that fight. So I can cast that now. You don't have another one one hidden somewhere, do you?"

Ranma quietly shook her head in response. Red eyed the girl thoughtfully. "I wonder," he mused. "You are certainly an enigma, Ranma, in more ways than one. Perhaps you are not human after all… or perhaps you are merely… not only human."

Ranma returned the wolf's one-eyed look. "If you've got an idea, out with it. I ain't good with riddles."

"I believe that a simple test may suffice," he said. "You have a Cure materia in your bracer, yes?" Ranma nodded in response. "Would you cast Cure on me?"

Ranma looked at Red suspiciously, but held out her hand and began focusing on the chi inside her to fuel a Cure spell, closing her eyes to help her focus on the spell. As she did, she felt something was missing, some kind of emptiness that she hadn't noticed before. She opened her eyes again, only to find nothing had happened. "The heck..." she waggled the arm with the bracer, checking that it was clasped firmly. She pulled off the bracer entirely, looking it over intently, not even certain what she might be trying to find. "This wasn't working earlier either. Can materia break?"

"Hardly," Red answered with a smirk. He turned to rummage in one of the packs with his snout, pulling out a small green bottle with his teeth. He flicked his head to one side, sending the bottle over the fire. Ranma reached out and snatched it out of the air. "In a moment, I'd like to ask you to drink that," he said.

Ranma eyed the bottle suspiciously, until she noticed the label on the outside. "Ether?" she read out loud. "This is one of those... restoratives... Shinra makes, isn't it?"

"It is, and it should restore your mana levels to at least a usable level," Red answered.

Ranma uncorked the bottle and downed the contents, gagging slightly at the flavor. "Ugh, tastes worse than root beer. What is this stuff made out of, anyway?"

"How you could possibly have drained your entire reserve in that last battle without using any materia is beyond me at the moment," Red commented quietly ignoring Ranma's complaints, "but I digress. Would you put your materia bracer back on for me?"

Ranma complied, as the others watched her. "You wanna let us in on this little secret of yours?" she inquired.

"Not until I know the results. Please cast Cure on me."

Ranma shrugged, and reached into herself, pushing a bit of her mana, or chi, or whatever it was, into the materia. There was a small tingle in her arm, and she saw the sparkles of green settle over Red's body. "Okay, so that works the way it has for the last three weeks or so that I've been here… you're sayin' I ran out of mana during the fight. I guess that makes sense, though I dunno what did it. So now what?"

"Take the bracer off, please." Ranma gave Red a calculated look, but did as asked, the bracer falling to the ground with a metallic thud. "You don't have any other materia in your possession, Ranma? No other bracers hidden somewhere?"

Ranma thought for a moment. "Got an elemental three-pack in my bag," she replied.

"But nothing else in your pockets or anything at the moment?"

"Nope."

"Very well," Red answered. "Please cast Cure on me." Ranma blinked, and leaned down to pick up the bracer from the ground. "No, I'm sorry, you misunderstand," Red smiled patiently. "Leave the bracer, and the materia, where it is. And cast Cure on me."

Four sets of eyes swiveled from focusing on Ranma to suddenly focusing on Red.

Aerith realized what he had been suggesting, but was having trouble believing it herself. She remembered the stories her mother - her real mother, Ifalna - had told her. The power that the Ancients wielded, an innate command of magic, requiring no materia and a seemingly bottomless wellspring of mana. But she knew better than almost anyone, there were no more Ancients. They hadn't left somewhere, they'd died. Ranma couldn't be an Ancient.

Ranma stood back up and extended her arm, bare of any bracer, and focused on the sensation she'd felt when casting before. She could feel the pool of energy there, and now that the materia was out of her possession, she could distinguish the 'mana' from the chi she was used to. The two energies felt remarkably similar. But whereas the chi was channeled from energy drawn in and focused through her own breath, the mana felt more like a reservoir of liquid, a lake filled with power within her, waiting to be used. She pulled at part of it and channeled it through the now-familiar pathways in her body, and, for lack of a better word, felt something inside her go _thunk_.

It was like there was a door inside herself and she'd metaphorically walked straight into it. She tried again, pushing the mana through her arm. _Thunk_. Gritting her teeth, she grabbed at her mana, and _shoved_.

And suddenly fell backwards as if clotheslined by a steel construction beam.

"Ranma?!" Aerith scrambled to her feet, practically vaulting over the fire. "You idiot, I told you not to push too much mana into yourself at once!" She looked over the girl, noticing the dazed expression. "Are you okay?"

"I…" Ranma shut her eyes, the light from the campfire suddenly much brighter than she felt she could deal with. "The hell was that?"

"That," Red interjected, before Aerith could say more, "was mana blowback. Normally it happens if you put too much energy into a spell. It can also happen if you try to channel mana when you have nothing to channel it into. Congratulations, Ranma," he finished with a slightly self-satisfied tone, "you are, in fact, merely human."

"You coulda warned me," Ranma groaned, leaning up slowly, squinting across the fire.

"Warning you would have defeated the purpose of the test," Red countered. "If you had known failure was possible, you might have acted differently."

"If I'd known _doing that_ would give me a _splitting headache_, hell yeah, I woulda _not done that_," Ranma growled irritably, pulling herself to a fully seated position, still holding one hand to the side of her head. "So, what was the other outcome, anyway?"

Red grinned, as only a wolf can. "If you had successfully cast that spell, while in possession of no materia whatsoever, I would have reached one of two conclusions…" he pawed at the dirt, his claws drawing a single vertical mark in the bare earth. "Either humans in your world were and are different from humans in our world…" and drew a second mark alongside it, "...or the humans of your world are what we think of as Cetra."

Cloud, Tifa, and Barret visibly started at that idea. "But… she ain't, right?" Barret asked. "She failed the test, so she's no Ancient, is that whatcha mean?"

Red looked away. "There is, of course, the possibility of deliberately falsifying the results," he said simply. "However, I happen to believe she's being honest with us, and as a result I stand by the outcome."

Aerith sat down next to Ranma and checked her over for any injuries from her fall. Cloud looked over at Red. "So… we know what she isn't, but how'd she do that anyway?"

"I admit, I still have no idea," Red confessed. "She may have an innate ability. For all we know, it is a shared trait among those of her world. There is not enough for us to go on."

"Ya coulda just asked me that question from the start, yanno," Ranma grumbled, the heel of her palm pressed to one temple. "I think it's part of how I learn martial arts techniques. I watch 'em bein' done, and I can usually do the same thing right after."

"Wait, you can _what_?" Cloud exclaimed. He stared at the redhead in shock. "And you think _that's_ what lets you copy an Enemy Skill?"

Ranma shrugged. "Maybe," she answered, grinning despite the pounding sensation in her head. "Either that or maybe it's not as hard as people think, if someone dumb like me can do it."

"You really are impossible, Ranma," Aerith commented, still fretting over the other girl, ensuring she hadn't been hurt by the blowback and the fall. "You're _not_ dumb. You simply still have more to learn about how things work here on Gaia. And Red, please don't go around causing your friends to injure themselves!"

Red nodded softly. "I apologize for that, I intended no harm to her or anyone."

Barret looked around at the others. "So... what, Ranma can burn all her mana and super-power-ify one spell? That sounds amazin' when you put it like that."

"As long as it hits," Cloud commented. "Otherwise..."

Ranma grimaced slightly. "Yeah, I'll keep that in mind. If that is how it works, then it's kinda all or nothing, ain't it?" The redhead pressed both hands against her head, massaging against the pulses of pressure from inside. "Anythin' that'll make this headache go away?"

Aerith shook her head. "It's not fixable by Cure or any of the medicine we have on hand... the pain from mana blowback is temporary though. You'll just have to wait it out."

"Fine, whatever, leave it," Ranma winced irritably, turning her gaze away from the fire. "We gonna get some rest or what?"

-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-

The next morning, it rained. Ranma was grateful for the full night's rest, as it had indeed cleared the throbbing headache that had plagued her the previous evening. She privately thought it was just as well she hadn't tried to heat up any of the bogwater to change back, as the fine chill mist clung to everything and everyone. Darker clouds on the horizon seemed to promise more rain, so they made a quick breakfast and broke camp.

Just over an hour later, as they neared what looked like the last bend in the path before the mountain face, they saw a sight that left everyone temporarily speechless. A Zolom lay ahead of them, not quite as large as the previous one they had encountered, but no less menacing in its appearance. This one, however, was definitely, extremely dead. Its body was coiled loosely around an enormous tree. The tree was the only thing holding it up, as its head was impaled on the upper branches, dried blood staining the massive trunk in rivulets that had dripped down through the cracks in the tree bark. It was a grisly sight, a macabre totem that signaled one thing.

"Sephiroth… did this?" Aerith whispered in disbelief.

"Must have," Cloud answered, examining the footprints nearby. "Nobody else came this way in the last day or two. Nothing else in the area matches the Zoloms on the food chain. Nobody else could have pulled this off."

Even Ranma was more than a little concerned about the feat of strength displayed here. It had taken the six of them working together to put a dent in the thing, before it hauled off and spit out that flame breath and nearly wiped them all out. Sephiroth was apparently capable of turning the enormous serpent into a titanic hors d'oeuvres all on his own.

Barret kept his gun-arm ready, just in case something or someone waited for them around the next corner. But there was nothing else, aside from the smell of rotting meat and the sound of thunder rolling in across the plains behind them. "A'ight, he's strong, but he's still one guy, so let's go find him and bust him up."

Tifa and Cloud nodded in response, and they kept walking. Around the next turn lay the entrance to the cavern. The mine entrance was almost unassuming, it looked like an ordinary hole in the mountain face. A pair of rust-covered rails ran into it, vanishing into the near-darkness. The outside was scattered about with picks, carts, and the remains of an old truck, all likewise pitted with rust to the point of unusability. "So, what's the story with the mine?" Ranma asked.

Barret let out a huff of disappointment. "They used to mine mythril here," he said solemnly. "Then they found mako. Then Shinra showed up. They say that Shinra showed up cuz of monsters comin' out of nowhere, but…"

"But Shinra might have sicced the monsters on the miners," Ranma finished for him, remembering Cloud's story about the Nibelheim reactor. "Wouldn't doubt it. Is that what the green-y glow is comin' out of the ground? Mako?"

Aerith met Ranma's questioning gaze and nodded in response. "The lifestream is close to the surface here," she said in an odd tone, as if she wasn't sure if it was her own words. "So many…" she trailed off.

"Aerith?"

Aerith shook her head briefly and refocused on Ranma. "I'm fine," she said quickly. "I'll be fine."

Tifa tugged at her gloves, making sure the knuckles were comfortably in place. "So we should keep an eye out for monsters?"

"For anything, probably," Cloud answered. "Keep your guard up."

The interior of the mine was a twisting maze of hewn stone and tunnels burrowed by animals and other creatures. The entrance looked exactly as any mine would. Cart rails, discarded equipment, even a dusty skeleton, long since picked clean. Beyond the entrance, the blue-green glow intensified somewhat, and the path began to shift between smooth stone shaped by men, and towering pillars of jagged ore and rock that vanished into the darkness in either direction.

"Reminds me of Zhangjiajie, back home," Ranma remarked. Five sets of eyes looked at her for more. "There's a place in China where the rocks look kinda like this. Bigger, though, and above ground."

"How big?" Red inquired.

Ranma struggled to remember her classwork from so many years ago. "The big ones are something like a thousand meters high," she responded. "White stone towering upwards, with big chunks missing from them. Couple thousand years of erosion'll do that."

"How old _is_ your world, Ranma?" Aerith asked suddenly.

Ranma let out a laugh. "Depends on who you ask, but last I heard, humans went back twelve thousand years, give or take. Earth is a lot older though. Like, a couple billion years older. Why?"

Aerith blinked at that, trying to wrap her head around the idea of humans knowing the exact age of Gaia. "I… was thinking about what Red had said, about humans in your world maybe being Cetra. But…" she sighed. "I was taught that the Cetra died out about two thousand years ago here. So that doesn't match up."

Ranma looked at her. "You'll find the answers, Aerith," she said firmly. "I believe in you."

Aerith smiled in response. "I think this way is a dead end, though," she said as they looked out over the open space. Deep below, the glow of mako illuminated the cavern, throwing odd shadows along the deeper parts of the tunnel. A spire of stone sat in the middle of the pit, extending downwards into the distant light, and was nearly level with the current platform. Unfortunately, it was in the middle of a twenty-meter gap between it and the next platform, and even if Ranma knew she could make the leap, she doubted anyone else could.

"Okay, let's check the other way then," Cloud indicated the path they'd come from, which stretched away from the entrance into a winding path through the darkness.

Ranma thought about Aerith's words. "Wait… you said this place… you mine mythril?"

"The locals did, yeah," Barret confirmed. "That an' coal, 'til the coal veins dried up, but neither one now. Somethin' special about it?"

"My world doesn't have mythril," she answered. "It's in stories and such… mythical metal, shines like silver, lighter and harder than steel, right?"

"'Cept for the mythical part, yeah," Barret confirmed. "Got a materia bracer made of mythril. Upgraded from the old one when we were in Kalm," he continued, holding up his wrist. The dull iron that had been there before had been replaced by a shining bracer, almost delicate looking, with two materia sitting inside it where only one had been before.

Ranma looked at the foreign metal that his world called a myth, and noticed identical ones rested on Tifa and Aerith's wrists. "Huh," she said simply. "Should probably upgrade my own soon, shouldn't I?" She held up her wrist, which still held a simple iron band with a single slot, currently holding the Cure materia she'd been using to practice with since she first began learning .

"There oughta be some in one of the big towns, yeah," Barret replied. "I know we're on a budget sometimes, but if you can afford it, get better gear."

Ranma smiled and was about to say something, but she stopped suddenly. "Someone's here," she and Aerith said almost simultaneously. Tifa turned and glared between them, obviously spooked by the sudden declaration-in-stereo. "Tifa," Ranma whispered, motioning everyone to stop. "Remember what I told you about sensing? Try it now."

Tifa inclined her head, and shut her eyes. She reached out with her senses, taking a single step forward. After what might have been thirty seconds, her brow knitted with effort, she gave a slow nod. "Up ahead," she whispered. "Someone… big."

"Anything else?" Ranma asked.

Tifa's face visibly strained with the effort of focus. After another moment, she waved her arms vaguely, untensing her body. "That's all I got. Sorry."

Ranma smiled again. "Not bad, especially for one day of training," she commented, and Tifa gave a soft smile in response. Ranma turned and tapped Barret and Cloud on their respective shoulders. "This might turn into a fight," she said, "and this ain't a great space for all of us to fight in. If it comes to it, do what you can to make sure we don't get surrounded."

Cloud nodded his understanding, and they proceeded forward, weapons drawn.

"That's far enough," a voice called out from the darkness ahead.

Red shook his head. "A voice I hoped I'd _never_ hear again," he muttered.

Ahead of them was a large, open cavern, with a wide chasm across the back. In the center of the cavern stood a man wearing an almost identical outfit to that of Cloud, a deep black knit tanktop atop loose-fitting dark pants, a thick leather girdle with shoulder straps, and metal pauldrons hanging over his shoulders. From there, the similarities ended. A wild mass of almost flaming red hair shot out in all directions from the man's head. His bare arms bore numerous, jagged looking scars, and his pauldrons and girdle showed the signs of significant damage, tears, scrapes, and gouges through them all. A pair of large single-edged blades rested over his shoulders. A bandolier of grenades wound down across his chest from his left shoulder, and a second belt hung below the girdle, from which hung a trio of pouches held shut by metal fasteners.

"You lot must be the ones who tore up the Tower last week," he declared with a dangerous looking grin. "Four terrorists, one of Hojo's precious little _experiments..._ and my oldest, _dearest_ friend, Experiment Thirteen! How on Gaia's green did you manage to get out of your doghouse?"

Tifa looked down at Red. "You've met this clown?"

Red bared his fangs. "First Class Lars," he growled in response. "No longer will I be used by you! I am free, and even if you end me here, I will die free."

Ranma stared at the scarred warrior before them. "What'd he do, Red?" she asked, a dangerous tone in his voice.

Red's eye shone with rage. "Every week, Lars would visit my cage in the Science Department," he snarled, dropping into what clearly accounted for an attack posture, "and use me as part of his 'training exercises.' Many of the scars I bear are a result of his work."

"If I'd known it was you, Experiment Thirteen, I'd have come straight away!" Lars shouted eagerly, drawing his swords, the metal gleaming in the greenish glow of the cavern. "I'd never miss an appointment with my favorite beatdown buddy!"

Ranma gritted her teeth, clenching her fists tightly. "That's all I need to hear, then."

Lars took a single step forward, brandishing both of his blades, but before he could bring them to bear on Red, Cloud darted between them and swung hard, the Buster Sword clanging against Lars' sabers. Lars leaned forward, digging his feet into the stone, but despite his movements, neither Cloud nor his blade moved more than a few centimeters back and forth in their efforts. Lars stared at Cloud with a look of surprise on his face, while Ranma stalked past the former SOLDIER and towards Lars. "So that's no costume, is it?" he quipped. "And here I thought you were all show! You're the real thing, aren'cha? Well, you-"

Lars' next words went unspoken, as he was suddenly knocked sideways, falling hard to the ground as both of his swords clattered to the ground alongside him. Ranma's outstretched fist was held aloft, the anger on her face clear as daylight. Lars took his time getting up. "And you must be the little _bitch_ that's got the new boss man so worried," Lars said, rubbing at his chin with the back of one hand, wincing as he touched the spot where Ranma's blow struck. "Gotta admit, last time anyone hit me that hard-"

"-Is right _now_!" Ranma charged forward and threw another haymaker straight at Lars' midsection. There was a glint of metal in the pale green glow, and one of his blades appeared in front of the attack, catching Ranma's fist on the saber's flat, a dull _clang_ sounding from the force of the impact. Ranma grinned as the blade intercepted her blow, taking a half-step forward and hooking her right leg around the back of Lars' own leg, neatly putting her foot atop the larger man's calf and pushing up onto it like a stepladder.

The sudden weight of an entire extra human on the inside of the knee joint caused Lars to stumble, the knee folding almost on reflex. Before the SOLDIER could recover his balance, Ranma grabbed at the hand nearest her, gripped firmly around the hand and saber grip, pinning his fingers beneath the handguard. She then stepped down off of the calf and pulled hard, twisting that arm back and up into a hammerlock, forcing the hand to release the saber.

Lars struggled, pushing backwards to try to overbalance the girl. In response, Ranma grasped the man's wrist hard, and pulled upwards sharply, jerking his body to one side as she fought to hold him steady. With her free hand she reached up to the man's thumb and pressed it between her own thumb and forefinger. "You try that again and I'll break your thumb," she warned, squeezing tightly with one hand.

"Ha!" he boomed, tugging at his bandolier with his free hand. "Maybe you should worry about yourself first!"

There was a dull metallic thud. Ranma glanced down, and saw a grenade roll between her legs. She flinched, releasing Lars from her grip in the confusion. The man spun and backhanded her hard, sending her flying back and to the ground, before lifting both swords and crouching behind their combined mass. Cloud was pushing the others back and likewise giving cover with the Buster Sword's flat turned towards the grenade. Ranma stood up and darted as far as she dared, crouching behind the thick roots of an enormous tree which had wormed its way through the stone and covering her head with her arms.

Barely a heartbeat later, there was a deafening blast from the center of the cavern. For a split second, the entire cave was light brighter than daylight, and then dust, dirt, shrapnel, and loose stone was sent in every direction. An enormous crack appeared in the cavern floor, and the ground began to shift, calving away and falling into the chasm at the back of the area with an enormous echoing impact.

As the dust settled, the party raised from their cover and glanced around. A shallow crater in the stone floor ended in a sharp drop into the unknown depths of the mine. Lars was nowhere to be found. "...the hell...?" Barret growled as he came to his feet. "Did he blow himself up?"

"Hardly, my little shits," Lars' voice boomed from somewhere, echoing in the cavern. They all glanced around, but Aerith spotted the man first, pointing up at a distant cliff above the chasm. "Such a tiny little blast would only hurt ants like you."

Barret raised his arm, taking aim at Lars. "I'm gettin' damn tired'a hearin' your voice," he shouted, opening fire at the distant figure.

Lars pulled one of his blades in front of his body, shielding him from the hail of gunfire, and let out a laugh. "Oh, you'll want to hear this one too," he said, pulling another grenade from his bandolier. "I've lined all of the passages out of the mine with proximity explosives. Try to leave, and they'll all go boom, and bury you in here." He pulled the ring from the grenade. "And since you're so eager to die free, cub, let's just get that one out of the way right now, shall we?" Lars tossed the grenade once into the air, the spring-lock coming loose and tumbling away as the pineapple spun gently in the air. He caught the grenade and pitched it in a hard overhand swing straight at Red.

It had traveled maybe six meters before most of the party began to react, darting back into cover and dropping to the ground. Cloud, however, had reacted much sooner. Stepping forward smartly, turning the Buster Sword in his grip, he swung flat-first at the grenade, connecting squarely with a metallic _gong_ that echoed weirdly amongst the stone walls of the cavern.

The grenade, for its part and owing significantly to the intervention of the laws of physics, suddenly reversed course, sailing through the air at a tremendous speed directly past Ranma's head, her red pigtail swaying from the shift in the air current as it passed by. The grenade twisted in flight, rebounded off of an outcropping on the opposite wall of the chasm behind them, and tumbled rapidly downwards into the depths of the mine. Barret grabbed Tifa and Aerith and pushed them down, turning to cover them with his body, as Cloud did the same for Ranma and Red. Less than three seconds later, there was a bassy, tooth-rattling **_THOOM_ **from somewhere deep in the chasm, and a cloud of dust and debris slowly rose up from the depths below.

Lars merely laughed, pulling out another device from his belt, something that looked to Ranma rather like the remote control for a toy car she'd seen one of her classmates at Furinkan playing with one day. She watched as he lifted a cover and pressed a button on the remote, before pulling out a key from the remote and tossing it into the vast pit below. "Bye bye, little ants," Lars called, before turning and vanishing somewhere above.

As Lars disappeared from sight, there was a sound from the alcove just above and around the corner where Ranma had taken refuge. A loud tone, followed by a series of low beeps. "Shit, he's activated the charges," Cloud muttered.

"Are you fuckin' kidding me?" Barret growled, waving his gun-arm wildly as he made to try to chase after Lars. "I ain't gonna die to no damn bombs! I'm goin' out fightin'!"

"Quiet!" Ranma shouted. "Barret, Cloud, I need you ta get the others into the sidetrack cave back there and keep them under cover. I'm gonna try somethin', and I'm gonna need ta _focus_."

Cloud stared at the redhead. "How will you know if it works?" he demanded.

Ranma shrugged. "We won't die," she replied simply. She turned to face Cloud. "I can't do anythin' about the one where we came in, but I might be able to make sure we can keep goin' forward. An' every second I'm explainin' this one is a second I ain't focused. If we live, I'll tell you after. Get them to cover!"

"What? _No_!" Aerith leaped at Ranma, reaching out to drag her to safety, but she was caught by Cloud, who hoisted her over one shoulder and started moving. "No! Ranma! Come with us!" Ranma stood her ground as the others retreated into the side cavern.

"This has to be as close as I can make it," she whispered to herself. "Gotta make sure that blast can't go anywhere but out..." She let her gaze rest on the wall of the cave, behind which the explosive charge sat. The rhythmic beeping continued, marking off the seconds. She dropped into a low stance, lining herself up with where she believed the best angle was, and closed her eyes, focusing on the sounds, waiting for the right moment.

_...beep...beep...beep...beep...beep...Beep…Beep..._

She heard a change in the tones, an urgency that hadn't been there before. Ranma cupped her hands behind her and inhaled sharply, her motions beginning to _blur_ as the world slowed to her perspective. Her thoughts turned to the others back home for a fraction of a second. Akane, Shampoo, and everyone she hadn't seen in almost a month. She thought of the home she knew and didn't know how to return to. She thought of the others, huddled in the cave behind her as the charges around them threatened to turn them into ash. She thrust her hands forward as the device beeped twice rapidly, the second tone solid and unwavering for a whole second.

"_Shishi Hokodan!_"

As Ranma's chi began to fill the air just in front of her, the detonator clicked, and the cave began to fill with the blast of the explosive that had been left there. Ranma saw the flames curving around the massive orb of chi she had summoned, and released the attack, letting it fly forward. The orb sailed through the air and collided with the cavern wall, obliterating the stone and ore in front of her. The explosive force of the charge was now being pushed out of the cave, unable to pass around the _Shishi Hokodan_ as it advanced forward, carrying the fiery blast with it and pushing it out of the mines.

-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-

_Twenty seconds ago…_

Lars dashed out of the narrow passage to the waiting helicopter, slapping the last directional charge onto the cavern wall as he passed. "All right, pilot, get us out of here."

The pilot, an ordinary man in Shinra blues and a comm-helmet, gave a nod as the rotors spun up and the craft lifted into the air. Lars peered back at the Mythril Mines as an earth-shaking series of explosions burst out of every crevasse, the mountainside appearing to sink into itself as the flames and dust dispersed. "Mission complete," he said, making himself comfortable and gazing out across the countryside. "Junon, pilot. Time to report in."

The chopper flew away without another word, as several figures began to emerge from the lowest-most entrance to the mountain.

-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-

"So, where ya think they're headed?" Ranma asked the others, pointing at the helicopter in the distance.

"Not much on this side of the mountains," Cloud answered. "Fort Condor doesn't much like Shinra, so that's out. Some little towns and villages between here and the ocean… doubt they'd be going anywhere like that. There's an air force base west of Fort Condor, near the coast... there's a small army base on this side of the mountain, just north of Junon Forest by the river... and then there's Junon port."

"What's Junon, anyway?"

"'s a military port," Barret chimed in. "Air Force and Navy, and there's one of the SOLDIER academies there. Technic'ly it's a civvie town, used ta be a fishin' port. Regular folks live there and make it work, but the whole thing's run by Shinra these days."

Cloud looked impressed. "You know a lot about Junon," he said off-handedly.

"Was gonna be one of AVALANCHE's targets," Barret admitted, "after we cleared Shinra out of Midgar. It'd probably be the next place they set up shop, 'cuz of all that military stuff."

Aerith whispered something, and Ranma glanced over at her. "What's up, Aerith?"

"Sephiroth," she declared, her voice still quiet. "He'll be in Junon."

Ranma looked puzzled. "How do you know?"

"I just…" Aerith met Ranma's gaze, the softness behind it, then glanced at the others. "Need to discuss something with sensei, give us a moment." She pulled the other girl aside, close to the entrance of the mine, and looked at Ranma apprehensively. "I think Gaia is talking to me, Ranma," she confided. "Gaia spoke to me while we were in the mines, it was how I knew Lars was there. It was how I knew everything about the attacks on the reactors back in Midgar when we met Barret and Tifa."

Ranma nodded, glancing behind her at the others, huddled and discussing their travel plans. "Been wonderin' about that," she remarked. "And you don't want the others to know?"

Aerith's face took on a very put-upon look. "Ranma, I need you to listen to me very carefully," she began, "when I say that I am a _woman_, who is hearing _voices _in the _back of her head_, and thinks that those voices are the _soul of the planet_ guiding her actions. Even _I_ think that sounds insane, and out of everyone here I'm the most likely for it to be actually true. But it doesn't change the fact that it makes me… questionable."

Ranma looked her up and down. "You're worried you're not in control of it," she said simply. It wasn't a question.

"No, Ranma, I _know_ I'm not in control of it." Aerith smiled weakly. "I _am _still in control of _me_. But I don't know if that will last. I don't know anything about what's going on with me right now. And… as much as I appreciate all the training you've given me so far, I don't know that anyone alive can tell me what to do with what's going on with me right now." She looked down. "And it scares me, a lot."

Ranma rested her hands on Aerith's shoulders. "Do you need me to keep this secret for you?"

"I…" Aerith paused and met Ranma's blue eyes. "You'd do that?"

Ranma nodded. "If they want details you can just say it's Cetra powers or whatever. Right now, who'd know the difference?"

Aerith smiled at her, a genuine smile of warmth and happiness. "Thank you, thank you so much Ranma," she gushed, her voice still quiet.

"Just promise me one thing," Ranma interrupted. Aerith blinked. "Promise me that if things start getting out of hand, you'll tell me."

Aerith nodded and gave Ranma a hug. "I will, Ranma, I promise, and thank you."

Ranma grinned in response, returning the hug. "Okay, okay, let's get back to the others." The two girls walked back over to the other companions. "So… someone said Junon?"

* * *

**A/N: A relatively short encounter with Lars, one of the five SOLDIER hunters, but he will be back to be an asshole quite soon. As you may have guessed, Lars' secondary focus is his dual sabers, but his primary method of completing his missions is to blow things up. Lars is destructive and powerful, and does not really know the meaning of restraint. Lining a mine with enough explosives to make a mountain sag is not an easy feat.**

**As discussed by the party, Blue Magic Overcharge ****is, essentially, a Limit Break-version of Ranma's absurd talent at copying martial arts techniques. Ranma has the innate ability to learn and cast enemy magic abilities (which in most other FF titles is referred to as Blue Magic), without the use of materia. The Overdrive version casts a much stronger version of the spell, at the cost of consuming Ranma's entire stock of mana/MP, regardless of the spell's effect or normal cost. This is why Ranma's limit-enhanced Beta turned the Zolom into a smokestack; the damage output of the Overcharged version was enough to take it out. This is also why her Cure materia was 'broken'; she'd never cast to exhaustion before, so she didn't know what it felt like to try to cast a spell with no MP before. Oops.**

**Aerith finally begins coming to terms with her powers. And yes, despite their inherent utility and the fact that it is in many ways Aerith's birthright, there is a lot of apprehension to this. Think of it like mutant powers in the Marvel universe. Having the ability to do a thing isn't always the same as knowing how to, or knowing how _not to_, and there is something a bit scary about the basis of your power starting with 'I hear voices'.**

**Hope you like it! Feedback and comments welcome!**


	28. Strike from the Shadows

**Well, life sucks a bit right now, but I'm still plodding along the best I can, which I suppose is about the most anyone could hope for. ****I don't want to turn my story into a political platform, but I do want to address something that is going on right now. I'm sure a lot of you out there are dealing with at least some of the effects of the protests, the riots, and the backlash of what's been going on here in the US in the wake of not just the death of George Floyd, but the built-up pressure of the hundreds of _known_ victims of racially-biased police brutality. I am white, and I can honestly say that even despite my personal anxieties around cops, I have probably never been at risk of being summarily executed for... anything, ever. I do not live in Minneapolis, but I have friends and family who do, and on a personal, entirely privileged point, I want little more than for them to remain safe. But so many others don't have that luxury. They deal with the worst this country has to offer on a daily basis, and as a white female I cannot even begin to comprehend the terror and anger that must instill. The story of AVALANCHE against Shinra could be held up as a mirror to what is going on in the US and elsewhere... a money-grubbing oligarchy brutally oppressing its powerless citizenry with overwhelming military might until enough of them band together to break the hold the world-encompassing government has on it, by way of destruction of anything that governing body uses to enslave the planet? Sounds familiar, doesn't it? I am disappointed that this needs to be said, ever, but I'm going to say it, here and now. Black Lives Matter. Yesterday, today, tomorrow, and forever.**

**Three more weeks, one more chapter. Still alive over here, and trying to keep up my stride as much as possible. I've finally found my center again on writing, which is a really good feeling. I've managed to put together an outline for most of another chapter in the last two weeks. It's slow work, but it is once again working, and that's important.**

**Comments? Comments.  
Shin: That's... mostly correct. The crucial difference between Ranma and Megumin is that Megumin only ever casts Explosion... because she's a nutter and hasn't learned any other magic. So far, Ranma has only learned _Beta_ because this is the first critter they've come across with a learnable attack, but he's already far more versatile a fighter and caster since he can equip materia, and there's quite a bit more Blue Magic out there to be obtained.  
Hiryo: Glad you're enjoying it so far.  
Mr. Haziq: I may have addressed this before, and if I have then I apologize for repeating myself. Within my understanding, a big part of Ranma developing the ****_Mōko__ Takabisha_**** from the _Shishi Hokodan_ is that Ranma's pride and confidence outweighed his depression and sadness as an emotional fuel source, while he was on Earth. There are a lot of factors in Gaia that have changed this, but part of Ranma using the _Shishi Hokodan_ now in addition to the _Mōko__ Takabisha_ is that in the last several weeks of his life, Ranma's borne witness to some truly disturbing imagery. This is more a judgment on Gaia than on Ranma; by comparison to the Tokyo of Ranma's Earth, Gaia is savage and dangerous. Ranma may have his pride, but he knows better than to flat-out discard a useful technique.  
****doraemax: If you thought Lars was annoying... good. That was the goal. :D I hope you enjoy the other four SOLDIERs set on our heroes. We're going to be seeing a lot of them in the next little bit. In fact...**

**Back to our regularly scheduled insanity. Hope you enjoy.**

* * *

Chapter Twenty Eight

Strike from the Shadows

[ ν ] - εγλ 0007, December 17

* * *

The group marched hard that day, doing everything they could to stay ahead of the storm coming over the mountains, while also making up ground between themselves and Sephiroth. The ground was hard and partly frozen this far into the wilderness. the towering plateau of Fort Condor and its reactor sat in the distance to the south, visible well beyond the horizon as it rose over the plains. Their travel was eased somewhat by a passing farmer who allowed them passage in the rear of an enormous truck, carrying animal feed and dried hay.

They disembarked outside a forest near sundown, and the farmer turned his truck away to the north, towards a river at the bottom of a valley between the mountains. "The guy said Junon oughta be down the valley and then out on the other side of the forest," Ranma said. "Push on, or stop here?"

"We'll go in a little bit," Cloud said, "try to find a clearing, but we're not staying out here in the open if that storm is coming this way. Besides which, don't want to leave ourselves as a visible target. There's a small Shinra base about twenty kilometers to the north, and they'll probably have patrols out. The forest should give us a little cover if more of Shinra's goons start looking for us again."

The others picked up their gear and began to hike into the woods. Within about ten minutes, they had found a small clearing within the forest, suitable for making camp. By the time the light had gone, their tents had been set up and a small fire was going, courtesy of Ranma getting in a little bit of practice with her materia. They broke out dishes and finished off the last of the canned stew.

"So, what's the plan in Junon?" Ranma asked.

Cloud shrugged. "Junon's a port, so Sephiroth could be going anywhere from there." He cleaned his bowl and munched on a travel biscuit, before picking up a stick and drawing a rough outline of the city in the dirt. "I've been there a couple times, back when I was with SOLDIER. City's mostly split along two levels, one main road running parallel to the mountainside on each level. We'll be at a disadvantage here. Nearly everything in Junon is owned by Shinra, one way or another. There's going to be a lot of security, no matter where we go. We'll have to keep a low profile if we want to get around without… problems."

Ranma snorted at that. "This lot?" she gestured about the camp. "Low profile?"

Barret grinned. "Yeah, we do kinda stick out, don't we?"

Cloud shrugged, then shook his head. "We'll figure it out," he remarked, leaning back against the tree behind him and folding his arms. There was suddenly a thud from the tree, about a centimeter above where Cloud's head was a moment ago. An oddly-shaped knife had appeared in the thick wood, just between the part in his hair, shuddering slightly from side to side. Cloud looked up, rooted to the spot. "Ranma, tell me that was you."

The others noticed the knife, and shuffled rapidly from confusion to full-alert. Almost as one, they stood up and readied their weapons, circling around the camp. Two more of the short, stubby blades appeared in a tree trunk just to Aerith's left, missing her by the thickness of her jacket. The woman let out a short gasp of surprise and leaped to one side.

"It's the fire!" Cloud cried out as he stood up, reaching down to tip over a bucket of soil, smothering the blaze. "Shouldn't be able to see us that easily now. Everyone stay close and keep quiet."

There was utter silence in the camp for several seconds. A distant wooshing sound echoed among the trees. In the dim moonlight filtering through the canopy above, there was the glint of whirling steel scything between the trees.

Cloud saw it first. "Down!" he shouted with authority, and as the others ducked for cover, Cloud drew his Buster Sword and swung hard against the approaching object. There was a clash of metal on metal, and an enormous four-point shuriken with a wingspan almost as long as Ranma's spread arms clattered to the ground, carving a shallow circle into the dirt as it fell.

Ranma's eyes were drawn to the strange, yet familiar, weapon. "_Ninja_?" she asked incredulously. "Your world has _ninja_?"

"We can discuss it later, Ranma," Tifa hissed as she returned to her feet. "How many, Cloud?"

Cloud was silent as he considered the question. "One, I think," he answered, turning around to face the darkness between the trees. "If there were more we'd be seeing more attacks from-"

Cloud's tactical discussion was cut off as a small explosion struck him from behind, the force pushing him forward and off of his feet, falling to the ground with a thud. The blast released a cloud of smoke, and three more knives hurled out of the dark, through the smoke from the opposite direction, and missed Tifa and Barret by a hair's breadth. A silhouette appeared in the smoke, ducked down to lift the fallen shuriken, and then vanished again in the blink of an eye.

Ranma dropped to one knee, and took a deep breath, stretching out her awareness. There was a definite chi signature around them, but whoever it was, they were good at masking their presence. It felt like it was moving too fast to pinpoint its location. They weren't moving in a single direction for long either, so the flow of chi was chaotic, putting her senses at a further disadvantage. "Red," she whispered. The wolf turned to face her. "Can you sniff them out?"

Red grinned, his fangs reflecting the moonlight. "I can try," he replied.

Ranma nodded. "Everyone stay still, we're gonna try somethin'."

"Whatever it is, make it quick!" Barret grumbled, raising his gun-arm and peering around through the darkness. "Feel like a sittin' chocobo here."

Red strode forward to the spot where the shuriken had rested a few moments before, while Ranma took a moment to toss a Cure at Cloud. Red padded back and forth over the ground, nose twitching, ears flicking. Ranma grabbed a handful of small rocks and pebbles off the ground, watching Red carefully. After a tense moment of silence, Red barked once, and turned his gaze upwards, to Ranma's left. Ranma followed his gaze to a tree in the distance, several raised branches just above the line of moonlight, the upper canopy cast in shadows. One shadow stuck out from the trunk in an odd way, broader than the rest of the trunk at that height. Without further thought, she turned her body and flung the stones hard, a scatter-shot of debris pelting the trunk, the leaves above the tree, and a person.

"Oww~w~whaaaaaa!"

There was a moment where Ranma actually worried that she'd hurt some innocent bystander somehow. Then her brain caught up to the words 'innocent bystander' and compared them to 'knife-flinging tree ninja' and the train of pity thoughts came to an abrupt crashing halt. The shape in the shadows visibly recoiled, arms swinging up and overbalancing the figure against the dark leaves, before falling backwards out of the tree and towards the ground. Ranma dashed forward, managing not so much to catch the plummeting figure as to collide with it mid-fall, turning a catch into a tackle and finally into a pin as they tumbled to the ground. "Get a light over here!" Ranma shouted.

The camp turned into a flurry of motion as the party rushed to Ranma's side. Barret pulled out a flashlight from his vest and pointed it at the two figures struggling in the dark.

"Get offa me!" a girl's voice called out from below Ranma.

Ranma said nothing, but kept her grip firm, pulling the girl to her feet with both wrists held behind her, a classic hammerlock keeping her firmly under control. "Someone search her, I got my hands full back here," Ranma muttered after a moment.

The shuriken was retrieved from having landed two-points into the soil, and Tifa withdrew a number of additional throwing weapons from the girl's odd clothing which, despite appearing to be a simple knit turtleneck and khaki shorts, were apparently made entirely out of pockets. The inside of the girl's arm-guard likewise held a number of sheaths, presumably for the numerous throwing knives that had already been employed against them. Barret decided for simplicity and was currently sitting atop the small heap of weaponry, his vest spread over the pile to prevent the various spiky bits from perforating his rear.

"All right, she's unarmed," Cloud said. "Let her go."

Ranma nodded, and released her grip on the mystery girl. She stumbled forward, slipping to her knees and rubbing at her wrists in discomfort. "Oww~, jerks," she muttered. Barely taking a moment to draw another breath, she sprang to her feet, taking an aggressive stance as she stared down the group of seasoned fighers. "All right, ya wanna go again? Best two outta three, let's rumble!"

Cloud rolled his eyes, the absolute stick of a girl barely the same height as his shoulders. "Not interested," he said in a tone that managed to convey the depth of emotion he was currently feeling, which happened to be none.

The girl grinned, a glint of moonlight catching on the girl's teeth. "I said fight me! Whatcha, scared 'a me?" she goaded.

Cloud crossed his arms and looked at the girl, a long silence that seemed to stretch on far more than comfortable. The girl seemed oblivious to her surroundings, her situation, and Cloud's disdain. "...terrified," he finally said, the sarcasm dripping from the single word.

Ranma was suddenly put in mind of a Chihuahua, a dog practically the size of a tissue box that behaved as if it was the size of a tank. It took all her willpower to stifle a laugh.

Despite her skill in combat and in stealth, the girl was clearly immune to any subtlety in conversation. "Yeah, that's what I thought. But whaddya expect, skills like these?" She reached up and thumbed the straps of her armor in a self-satisfied way. "All right, Imma get outta here, gimme back my stuff. And good luck to ya!"

Cloud sighed, and turned to Barret, reaching out one hand. "What?" Barret looked up at Cloud, his expression bordering on insulted. "You wanna re-arm her to attack us in the night again?"

"Just…" Cloud reached up with his other hand and pinched the bridge of his nose. "The shuriken, Barret."

Barret growled his discontent, but relented, pulling the enormous shuriken free from the bottom of the pile and handing it over to Cloud. Cloud took it in both hands, took up an almost military stance, and presented it to the girl, who snatched it away and spun around, clutching the weapon like it was a trophy of some great victory of hers. "Just leave us in peace," Cloud declared flatly, and turned back towards the camp.

The girl seemed bound and determined to press her luck. "If ya want, we can go another round again. Until then, later!" she called to the backs of the group. There was no response. "I'm really gonna go, y'know."

Ranma stopped walking. Aerith paused as well, seeing the redhead's expression. "You're not…" Aerith asked.

"Trust me on this," she responded quietly. "Wait a minute," she called out loud, turning to face the girl. The rest of the group, several paces ahead, stopped and turned around to look at the trio behind them.

Before Ranma could say anything more, the newcomer skipped forward and laughed. "I knew you had somethin' goin' on. C'mon, c'mon, spill it!"

Ranma caught the girl by the arm almost companionably as she passed, a gentle smile gracing her lips. "Hold up, runt," she said calmly. "You're from Wutai, aincha?"

The girl looked genuinely affronted. "So what if I am?"

"Nothin', but…" Ranma looked over the girl again. Hair cut short to almost a page-boy, headband under her bangs, oversized boots and gloves tied close with thick leather. Everything about the girl seemed to contrive to make her look bigger than she was, and fail in every important respect in doing so. Ranma shook her head, focusing her train of thought. "You don't like Shinra, do you?"

"I'm okay with them," she remarked casually, but there was something behind the simple tone.

"Well, you're probably not gonna want to hang out with us," Ranma said in a singsong tone. "Cuz if we get the chance, we're gonna wreck 'em."

"I'm in," the girl said in a heartbeat.

Ranma grinned. "Thought so," she turned to flash that smile at Aerith. "One thing before you can join up, though."

"What's that?"

The smile on the redhead's face faded, replaced by a stare that could shatter granite. "You can give back the two hundred and four gil you took from Cloud's pockets, the two grenades you swiped from Barret's belt, and the Fire materia from Aerith's bracer." The girl turned a wide-eyed look of innocence to Ranma, but quailed under the simple menace of Ranma's unflinching gaze. "_Now_," she demanded, fire blazing behind her eyes despite the darkness.

The girl nodded, and reached into yet another hidden pocket somewhere inside her armguard, and withdrew the specified objects, returning them to their owners. "Jeez, you're quick, girl, nobody's spotted that before."

Ranma nodded. "You'll find I'm fulla surprises. You get a freebie this once, cuz before this moment, you're a stranger. You come with, no harm done, but you don't steal from us again. Got it?" The girl nodded once, her gaze downcast. Ranma reached out and cupped the girl's chin, staring her directly in the eyes. "_Got. It?"_ she repeated deliberately.

The girl nodded frantically. "I got it," she answered, the words almost coming out a squeak.

"Jeez, Ranma," Aerith chastised, giving Ranma a bit of a shove to her shoulder. "Lay off the kid already."

"I ain't a kid, lady," the girl responded angrily, drawing herself up to her full height, which wasn't much. "Name's Yuffie."

"Got a tent?" Ranma asked her.

"Kinda."

"Go get it," she said, keeping her eyes on Aerith. When the girl was gone, Ranma smiled again. "Trust me, Aerith, I know what I'm doin' with her."

"Oh?" she asked. "And what exactly is that?"

The smile faded somewhat. "She… reminds me of... someone I was friends with," she said quietly, "when I was younger. If she's goin' through some of the same kind of…" she trailed off, running one hand through her red hair. "I dunno, maybe I can help somehow."

Aerith's smile was genuine, but also looked as if she was restraining herself. "You're _adopting_ her."

"I am _not_."

"You're _adopting_ a _stray ninja_," she teased.

"Shaddap, it's not like that!"

"Goddess, it completely _is_ like that!"

Ranma rolled her eyes, but couldn't shake the grin from her face. "Okay, okay, maybe I am," she caved. "Look, I got a feelin', is all. Don't really have the words for it yet. But she danced circles around us for three minutes, and if it's as bad as Cloud says it is, then we might need that kinda help gettin' inta this Junon place."

Aerith nodded. "All right, I'll give you that one. Just remember that you still have to teach Tifa and I."

Ranma blinked, and then facepalmed. "Dammit, I completely forgot to set up the _Amaguriken_ test… and the fire's out now." She shook her head. "All right, I'll get the fire back up, I'll need to show off my other magic trick to that little terrier, anyway."

"...terrier?" Aerith asked, perplexed.

Ranma nodded. "Type of dog on my world," she answered. "Dunno if anythin' like them exist here, but they're bred to hunt rodents. Some folks keep them as pets… anyway, they're all really small dogs and most of them act way bigger than they are."

Aerith stifled a giggle. "Do you have nicknames for all of us like that?"

Ranma froze a bit at the question. "Kinda, but…" She looked away. "I'm tryin' to be better about usin' people's names. I don't wanna be rude to people." She took a moment and reflected on that. "Okay, sometimes I _do_ wanna be rude to people, like Reno or that wingnut SOLDIER who attacked us. I just don't wanna do that to friends."

Aerith folded her arms behind her back and leaned forward and to the side, turning her head to meet Ranma's eyes. "...do you have a nickname for me?" she asked. Ranma nodded. "Okay, I promise I won't be upset, but I have to know."

Ranma turned her head sharply down and away, her eyes cast to one side. "...'glow stick'," she muttered.

Aerith blinked. "What?"

"I nicknamed you 'glow stick'," Ranma said again, her voice still quiet.

Aerith's face contorted in equal parts amusement and confusion. "...why?"

Ranma looked at her. "Cuz I don't know how or why, but your chi lights up like a beacon. I'm not that great at sensing over any big distances, but I could pinpoint you from a couple kilometers away, in a crowd of people, in Midgar, where the local chi paths are all over the place anyway, and most folks are just kinda dim here, like holding up candles in the night and _for Kami's sake_, you're like a _bonfire_." Ranma's rant petered off. "Also… because you fight with a staff. So… glow stick."

Aerith stood there almost in shock at the revelation about her chi, and then part of her registered the end of Ranma's semi-coherent rambling. And she laughed, loud and hearty, and reached out and gave the redhead a hug.

"You two share a tent or somethin'?"

Yuffie was back, carrying a small bedroll and a few other items, staring at the two of them. Ranma glared at the girl, but Aerith kept laughing. "Ain't like that," Ranma muttered.

"Yeah, whatever, I ain't judgin'," Yuffie remarked, and walked past them. A few steps further, she froze, her bedroll dropping to the ground in front of her. "Y'all got anyone else with ya?"

Aerith gave the newcomer a puzzled look. "Like who?"

Ranma blinked. "_...chikushou..._" she muttered, and turned sharply, grabbing Aerith by her torso and pulling her hard to one side. A fraction of a second later, a broad, three-foot-long, curved blade pierced the earth where they had both stood. At the end of the blade was a long metal haft, darkened to the point of being nearly invisible in the deep shadows. At the end of the haft was a man wearing a familiar-looking tunic.

Aerith stared past the redhead to see the dark shape in the shadows tug sharply at the naginata, freeing the blade from the ground. "SOLDIER!" she gasped out, readying her own staff.

Ranma grinned, clenching her fists until her knuckles cracked. "Ya just couldn't leave well enough alone, could ya, Shinra?" She stepped forward as the spearman feinted a thrust to one side, darting in as close as she dared, trying to size up her opponent. The SOLDIER remained silent, sticking to the deep shadows, always moving backwards and away, keeping Ranma at a distance where the massive razor-sharp blade would provide the maximum amount of threat. "I did everything I could to play nice, I warned ya what would happen if ya pressed it, and ya did it anyway." She batted a pair of thrusts to one side, pushing him back again as she advanced. A wild swing of the blade came in next, which Ranma evaded effortlessly as she prepared to move in past his effective range. "An' now, _you're gonna get it_."

Ranma caught the edge of the next strike on her bangle, pushing it far to one side and opening the attacker up for a solid strike. The SOLDIER suddenly spun to one side, moving with the blade rather than trying to pull the long spear in front of him again-

-in that moment, as the SOLDIER moved to the side, placing her at the edge of the tree line, looking out at a seemingly empty bowl of grassland valley stretching for miles in almost every direction, bathed in pale moonlight, there was something in her senses that _screamed_ for her to _move_-

-and she dropped prone to the ground. As she descended to the earth, the air currents above her were disturbed, pushing her hair to one side. Another fraction of a second later, and the thunderous crack of a distant rifle echoed through the valley. Ranma scrambled to her feet and darted back into the forest, slipping behind a tree just in time for a second high-velocity round to thud into the trunk of an oak a few meters ahead of her, directly in line with where her torso would have been only a short moment ago. She glanced to either side, but could not see past the first few rows of trees into the forest past the blanket of shadows. She was blinded, isolated, and seemed to be up against not one but two very deadly opponents. She opened her senses and spotted Aerith's beacon of chi almost instantly, about thirty meters deeper into the woods. Neither Yuffie nor the close-range assailant was anywhere that she could sense, but she knew the attacker was close by. There was only one thing for it. She'd have to outlast them somehow. She took two steps forward, keeping the tree in line with where she thought the sharpshooter might be, and cupped her hands in front of her mouth, taking a deep breath.

"Aerith! Yuffie!" she shouted. "Get the hell out of here, right now!" Less than a second later, the naginata blade wandered into view, pointed straight at her. She stared past it to the SOLDIER in the shadows, watching his movements as closely as possible. _Don't let him kite you again_, she reminded herself as she dodged another swing of the oversized weapon. _Whoever else is out there musta been in on the plan, flush us outta cover and **bang**, game over._ The naginata's tip danced in a complicated pattern, which despite her efforts to evade, managed to catch Ranma's exposed forearm, drawing a shallow cut. She ducked the next strike, the gash on her arm trickling blood. _How is that other person seeing us in the dark like that? How isn't this guy getting pelted with shots?_

Ranma's mind raced as her body wove and threaded between the deadly strikes, trying to guess at her best course of action or find a weak spot. The SOLDIER's defense was far from perfect, but it was obvious to the redhead now that the openings created by his aggressive spearwork were ruses designed to lure her forward and into the field of view of his sharpshooter. It was a fairly effective trap, she realized. If she ceased her defense long enough to try to focus on the sniper, the SOLDIER would turn her into a kebab in the blink of an eye. If she made a run for it, the SOLDIER's enhanced body might be able to run even _her_ down, and could definitely outpace Aerith and kill her without a thought. If she made any serious move to attack, it would require her to advance past the naginata's effective range, drawing her back into the line of fire.

_Fire._

Her train of thought halted so abruptly that she nearly fell over. She hopped back, just out of range of the SOLDIER's weapon, and grasped at her mana, channeling it into her materia. She hurled the Fire spell past the SOLDIER's head and into the grasslands as far out as she dared. With a whoosh of heated air, suddenly a fire began to spread in the long grass in the distance. She threw a second, and then a third Fire spell, creating more pockets of flame closer by. The SOLDIER, finally illuminated from behind, bore a wild sprout of short, reddish-brown hair, and wore no pauldrons over his bare shoulders. His mako-blued eyes glinted in the firelight, and what looked like a miniature radio headset was lodged firmly in his left ear, the band secured behind his head.

"I ain't dancin' to your tune any more, buddy," Ranma declared with a grin. "And now you can't hide from me!"

The SOLDIER grinned in the firelight, leaping back into the open field. He spun his weapon in one hand, and held it stiffly to one side as he raised his right arm, a set of green orbs resting within the bracer attached to his forearm. He turned and flung out his hand towards the open fields, and a massive wave of frost exploded out from his fingertips, colliding with the burning patches of grass and extinguishing them in a Blizzaga-powered flurry.

Ranma blinked. "Oh, hell," she muttered, and darted back into the cover of the thick trunks, not giving the sharpshooter a chance to draw a bead on her.

"A good idea," the man spoke for the first time, his tone condescending, his voice smooth and calm over the sound of the crackling ice in the field behind him. "Blind the sniper, expose the assassin. But you failed to take into account how much stronger your opponent was, how much more prepared. And that gulf of knowledge between you and us, that is where you will fall."

"Ordinarily, I'd agree with ya," Ranma replied, peeking her head out cautiously to watch as the SOLDIER began stalking back into the edge of the forest. "But I know a coupla things you don't know."

The SOLDIER smirked, pulling his naginata back to a ready position, the blade pointed squarely at Ranma's torso. "I know you're trying to play me," he said with a smirk. "But I'm curious what you think you might be stalling for. Nobody's coming to help you. I'd see them long before they got anywhere close."

Ranma grinned and relaxed her posture, dropping her guard slightly. "Well, for one thing..." and her smirk widened as the sound of automatic gunfire suddenly erupted from the speaker attached to the SOLDIER's left ear. "I know what's making that noise."

-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-

Minutes prior...

"Aerith! Yuffie!" Aerith heard the redhead shout. "Get the hell out of here, right now!"

For a fraction of a second, she considered doing the opposite, charging out to join the fray and help Ranma fight off the SOLDIER. And then she remembered the sharpshooter, wherever they were. She hadn't seen the shot fired, she had no idea where it had come from. But the moment Ranma had pushed her away, she opened up her senses as far as she could manage. When the shot was fired, it was like something unthinkable had crossed her perception, a solid bolt of death sailing through the air at beyond the speed of sound, faster by far than her ability to understand what it was she had felt. She'd never _sensed_ a bullet before. It was terrifying. The second round was worse, somehow, as comprehension dawned, and she grasped the danger that she- _Ranma_\- _all of them_ were in.

She ran. She ran as fast as she could. In the darkness, she saw the forest as only she could, her senses extended as far as possible in front of her.

Which is perhaps part of why she shrieked at the top of her lungs when she felt a hand on her shoulder, the sudden disturbance to her focus on her forward motion causing her to stumble and drop to the ground. She quickly pulled herself to her feet, readying her staff, and then saw who had approached her.

"Yuffie!" she breathed, lowering the tip of the staff to the ground and using it to brace herself as she panted from the exertion. "You frightened me, sorry."

Yuffie's face contorted angrily. "Where'dya think yer goin', anyway?" the girl demanded. "Aren't ya gonna help her?"

Aerith frowned. "I'm... not that good a fighter yet," she admitted between deep breaths, trying to recenter herself. "I'd get in the way right now. So I'm bringing help to her instead."

"Ranma? Aerith?" a familiar voice called out from somewhere ahead of them.

Aerith allowed herself a smile. "Speaking of which," she said, turning to the sound of the voice. "Tifa, over here! We've got a problem!"

Seconds later, Tifa, Cloud, Barret, and Red regrouped around them. "The hell's that red-haired shrimp gone off to?" Barret asked, glancing around.

"He's in trouble," Aerith replied, gesturing back the way she came. "There's a SOLDIER out there, maybe two of them. Yuffie managed to warn us and they still surprised us. One's got a gun out in the middle of I don't know where, and nearly killed us both. He's fighting another one with a big spear, and... I don't know how long he's gonna last. We have to do something!"

"Wait, 'he' who?" Yuffie asked in confusion. "I thought Ranma was a girl-"

"That can wait," Cloud cut her off, frowning in thought for a moment. "A SOLDIER using a gun?" he wondered aloud. "And another with a spear... Oh, no."

Tifa turned to Cloud. "You know them?"

"Not personally, but..." he shook his head. "I've heard of a pair of Firsts that work together exclusively, a sniper and a spearman, they're supposed to be the best trackers in the world. If we're in their sights then we have to move _now_ if we're going to live the night."

Aerith stared at the blond swordsman. "You're going to _abandon_ him?" she cried out.

"No." Cloud faced Aerith, meeting her green eyes with his own. "I'm not leaving anyone behind. Not Ranma, not you, not even the new girl. If we leave, we all leave together." There was a conviction, a certainty to his words that made Aerith realize just how serious he was, and she nodded her understanding. "But we still need a plan. Yuffie."

"Hm?" Yuffie looked up suspiciously at Cloud. "Whaddya want?"

Cloud took a few steps forward, careful not to loom too close to the girl. "Did you know the spearman was there?"

"I..." Yuffie took a breath, lowering her head, her shoulders stiff and arms at her sides. "I didn't know he wasn't with ya until Ranma said so, or I'd'a said something sooner."

Cloud nodded. "Do you have any materia?" Yuffie shook her head. "How did you move so fast?"

"What?"

"You got behind me during the fight," Cloud began, "then got in front of me to throw those knives at the others. And you did it in half the time you should have. How did you do that without Time materia?"

Yuffie looked up at him. "How did..."

"There's no time, Yuffie, Ranma needs our help," Cloud interrupted, his expression stern. "Help us save her." He took another step towards Yuffie. "Please."

Yuffie looked up at him, guilt and shame spreading over her face. Letting out a huff, she reached into yet another hidden pocket, and pulled out a small black ampule filled with liquid. "It's my last one," she muttered. "Ya better not waste it."

Reaching out a hand, Cloud nodded. Yuffie dropped the crystalline container into his hand, and turned away. "All right, I have a plan," Cloud said, passing the container to Barret. "Barret, get to the edge of the forest as fast as you can. As soon as you're there, drink this, and cut across the valley."

Barret took the crystal ampule from Cloud. "What's in it?" he asked suspiciously, eyeing the minute amount of liquid inside.

"It's Haste in a bottle."

Barret blinked, at a loss for words, but recovered, nodding his understanding. "I getcha."

Cloud gave a sharp nod in return. "Cut north when you get across the valley, get to high ground, and find the sniper. Take him out if you can, otherwise just pin him down and harass him, keep him out of the equation." Barret grinned, turned out from the group, and started running. "Tifa, Aerith, break down the camp, we're going to be moving out the second we're back. Red, keep your eyes and ears open, make sure these two stay safe. Yuffie, I need you with me. We're going to save Ranma."

"You _what_?" Yuffie shouted in protest as the others began to move. "The hell am I s'posed ta do against a SOLDIER?"

"Nothing," Cloud admitted, and started moving purposefully through the underbrush. "Just help me stay in his blind spot until Barret's in position."

Yuffie groaned in disbelief, but followed anyway. "An' how're ya gonna know when that's happening?"

Cloud turned and flashed a small but knowing smile. "When he's in position, _everybody's_ going to know."

-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-

The SOLDIER in front of Ranma glanced to look across the field, the lights of automatic gunfire sparking in the distance. "Ven," the man breathed.

In that distracted moment, Ranma saw her opportunity and inhaled sharply, her body _blurring_. She darted swiftly out from the cover of the trees, grabbed the haft of the naginata just below the guard with one hand, and held it fast before turning her body around in a spinning back kick that knocked the SOLDIER away, sending him sprawling to the ground. Somehow, he held onto the bottom of the spear with one hand, and quickly regained his footing, before pulling hard at the weapon. Ranma's grip on the haft did not falter, and as she moved with the naginata, she took the opportunity to land a series of hammering blows on his exposed body with her free hand.

"You ain't gettin' away from me that easy!" Ranma shouted, dropping into a low scything kick that took the SOLDIER's legs out from under him, sending him back to the ground. Before he could struggle to his feet again, Ranma leaped atop the man, pulling the haft of the spear between them and pressing down on it hard, intending to pin him. The SOLDIER managed to lift his legs before Ranma could position herself, and sent the redhead flying with both feet, regaining complete control of the naginata. Without a word, he advanced on the girl, slashing and stabbing with the long weapon. Ranma saw that his technique was much more polished now, and it was clear to her that she was not going to get another easy shot in. She adopted a defensive posture, sacrificing any attempt to attack in favor of keeping herself from turning into Swiss cheese. And even with her speed and skill, it was rapidly becoming clear that this man was at least her equal in martial combat.

_Time to show where I really shine_, she thought. Another thrust, missing her by centimeters as she managed to parry the attack just wide enough to give her an opening. She braced her legs, cupped her hands, and focused her chi as rapidly as she could. "_Mōko Takabisha!_" she shouted, thrusting her clawed hands out at the SOLDIER-

-who had twisted the naginata in response to her parry, the flat of the naginata blade coming around now to slap her hands out to the side with a sharp blow, sending her aimed attack wildly to her left-

-and as the sphere released from her hands, she saw Cloud for the first time, approaching from the direction that her arms were now pointed, his Buster Sword raised as he flew through the air, defenseless, as the orb of chi smacked into his chest, the detonation sending him flying hard into the other direction, falling flat on his back.

The enemy SOLDIER grinned and spun the weapon in a circle, the weighted tip of the haft colliding hard into Ranma's torso, knocking her to the ground with a thud. "Yeah, that's not going to happen, girl." He completed the weapon's spin, putting the tip to Ranma's throat. "Face it, you've lost."

Ranma lay there, prone on the ground, the blade's point pressed against her neck, the haft of the weapon keeping him well out of range of her legs, staring at the man above her. "Ranma Saotome doesn't lose," she growled defiantly.

"And yet, here you are," he retorted, his grin fading. "Rufus said dead or alive, so right now it's up to you. You want to go back in cuffs, or in a body bag?"

Before Ranma could answer, the SOLDIER grimaced and stepped to one side, turning rapidly to the empty field behind them. Ranma sprung to her feet, and saw that the field was no longer empty. Yuffie stood there, one hand filled with throwing daggers. And as she looked over the SOLDIER, Ranma realized that he'd been struck by at least one of those knives, as a trail of blood oozed gently from his shoulder. "Ya maybe wanna ask yerself that question," the dark-haired ninja prompted, her hand flicking out, metallic glints hurtling through the moonlight. The SOLDIER managed to evade most of the volley, but one knife sunk halfway into his lower torso just above the thick leather girdle, while a second disappeared into his thigh.

The spearman tugged the blades free, and for a moment there was a familiar-looking aura of green sparkles about his body. "You think you can take me out with _knives_?" he taunted. "What are you going to do, _nick_ me to death?"

"Done it before," Yuffie answered coldly, circling slowly as she pulled out another volley. "You can heal up as much as ya want. All that blood is gonna stay outside your body. Even if you have the mana reserves for it, eventually, there won't be enough blood for you to keep moving, and then you're dead." She gestured with both hands this time, and a rain of sharp objects hurtled through the air. Ranma saw something in the midst of the blades, a sphere that shone dully in the dim light. Three knives hit their mark, and somehow Yuffie had predicted exactly which way the man would dodge, the pellet striking him square in the chest with a sudden and unexpected bang, the force of the concussive blast sending him sprawling back onto the grass. "And trust me," the young ninja insisted, "I got more'n enough in my pockets to keep you busy wastin' mana until you fall over."

The SOLDIER stood slowly, his stance defiant, even as he leaned slightly on the butt of his spear. "Yeah, except for one thing," he said, reaching behind him and pulling free what looked like the hour hand to a large clock. He flicked his wrist once, and the metal shifted, the 'hand' seeming to split into four, the bottom of the arrow suddenly becoming the center of a circle, and within only two or three seconds, the SOLDIER was holding an enormous shuriken, much like Yuffie's own. He flung the weapon hard, sending it spinning towards Yuffie, who leaped high and away to avoid the attack. As the shuriken circled back to their attacker, the air between them seemed to wobble strangely, as if it had somehow become a pool of water. Ranma watched in confusion as the distortion in the air grew stronger, the form of the spearman and the ground around him wobbling significantly. The shuriken returned to his outstretched hand, and without warning there was a sound of glass or crystal shattering under extreme stress as the spell grabbed hold of the SOLDIER, and he vanished without a trace.

Yuffie stared at the vacated space where the SOLDIER had stood, gritting her teeth in disbelief. "_...kisama..._" she huffed under her breath. She paused, stowed the knives she had pulled free, and then strode over to Ranma. "I hope you can wake up big boy over there," she gestured to Cloud, "because I'm not carryin' him.

Ranma got to her feet and threw a Cure spell over Cloud, rousing him from his daze. "Damn, Ranma," he grumbled as he came to his feet, "that thing of yours hits like a truck."

The redhead exhaled in a huff, glancing out across the valley to see Barret approaching. "If it were anyone but you, I'd wonder if you'd been hit by a truck to know the difference," she commented. "Since it's you, the only thing I have to wonder is if the truck _survived hitting you._"

Yuffie snorted and let out a genuine laugh at that. Cloud grimaced slightly. "How'd it go, Barret?" he asked, turning to the larger man.

Barret shook his head. "Guy got away," he said. "Think they had some kinda teleport magic... Exit or somethin'. I didn't think SOLDIERs were known for runnin', but guess it takes all kinds."

"Then they could be anywhere by now." Cloud ran a hand through his hair. "We can't waste time trying to hunt those two, we have to move camp and do it before they come back. The others should have broken everything down by now, so let's regroup and get the hell out of here."

Yuffie stared out across the empty moonlit field. "Who the hell were those guys, anyway?" she wondered aloud.

Cloud winced, clutching at his bruised ribs. "If they're who I think they are, then they're trouble," he answered. "Jagher and Venator, they're trackers, and they're dangerous. Even if it isn't them, we need to leave. Don't want to get caught out here in the open by anyone like that."

Ranma and Barret both gave nods, and the four of them turned towards the line of woods. Ranma looked back at Yuffie. "Thanks for the save," she said. "I don't like losin', but I ain't gonna lose to him twice." Yuffie waved a hand indifferently, and followed Ranma into the forest. Ranma thought for a moment. "You really still had enough weapons hidden, even after we pulled that big pile of stuff outta your pockets?" she asked.

Yuffie barked a defiant laugh. "_Hell_ no," she admitted, "you guys almost emptied me out. Those three knives I was holdin' there were my last ones I had on me, but I wasn't about to tell him that."

Ranma turned to Yuffie with a mischievous glint in her eyes. "Remind me to show you a little magic trick later, once we get set back up."

"What kind of trick?"

* * *

**A/N: So, about two dozen chapters back, I said I wasn't sure if Yuffie'd even be showing up, much less joining the party. Guess what? I decided. We're going to be seeing some changes here as the characters start to come together. Yuffie normally arrives to the party with a Throw materia, but... I think it's a little iffy for that to be a materia, so I've decided that she can just do that as part of her ninja training. And that's... not all she can do, but we'll get there as we get there. Personality wise, ****Yuffie always put me in mind of a terrier. Attitude three sizes bigger than its body. Hence Ranma giving her the nickname.  
**

**The item that Yuffie surrendered mid-chapter was a Speed Drink, and it is in fact basically a Haste spell in a bottle. It's a fairly rare item, but considering Yuffie would have had to traverse a significant chunk of the planet to get from Wutai to Junon Forest, no matter what route she took, I think it's reasonable that she might have managed to pick up one or two in her travels.**

**More action this chapter! Jagher and Venator present an interesting and complicated threat. Either one of them alone would be a significant problem for the party to overcome, but when they work together... well, you saw Ranma's reaction to the prospect of having a bullet through her head. As we've seen here, Jagher is calculating, patient, and a capable strategist, and trusts implicitly in his partner's ability to take down any target that Jagher flushes out of hiding. And both he and Venator have watched the security footage from Shinra HQ when Ranma tore it up with her chi, so Jagher would have been informed enough of the signs to be looking for Ranma to let loose with that attack. We'll see more about Venator later on. **

**Language lessons! **"_Chikushou_"** has several meanings, but in this context it roughly translates as 'son of a bitch.' **_"Kisama"_** roughly translates as 'you bastard.' Both are Japanese swears. Is Yuffie speaking Japanese? Why would she do that? Maybe find out next time.**

**Major shout out to FF user Shadowatcher for helping me edit this chapter. **

**Hope you like it! Feedback and comments welcome, as always.**


	29. Earth and Water

**It has been quite a while, but I'm still kicking. The last several weeks have not been the best, but I'm getting better now that the weather is starting to cool off. Still safe, but been dealing with a whole mess of crap from my day job that frankly has sucked the soul out of me, hence the delay between the last chapter and this one. Before I get into stuff, something you may have seen if you are a mobile user or did a search for this fic on FFNet in the last month or so, this fanfic now has a cover image, courtesy of the absolutely amazing Alex Barr, at www-dot-dulceskull-dot-com! If you're reading this on AO3, I have edited the title image into the top of Chapter 1. Thank you once again for the art, Alex!**

**What do we have for comments today, Johnny?  
doraemax, 121698, and KuraraII: I swear, y'all need to stop reading ahead in my rough draft file. :D Some of these points are being addressed in the following pages. Others... well, we'll see.  
Crazed Horse: It is worth mentioning that the SOLDIER program is not just a rank above the Shinra regulars. We're talking the dark science equivalent of the Erskine formula, the process which turned Steve Rogers into Captain America. Genetic therapy, alien DNA splicing, enhanced strength and durability, heightened reflexes and senses, and more, all acting as progressive force multipliers. To top that off, unless by sheer dint of perseverance on the mission boards since then, anyone who is in First Class was probably at least in SOLDIER (if not already Firsts) during the Wutai War, making them combat veterans. Even if they were _only_ equally as capable as Ranma, they already have a finely honed killing intent, something Ranma is still struggling with. Ranma's struggles with this will be addressed in coming chapters.  
Golden Nova: I'm genuinely sorry that you see it this way. As a writer, I feel that part of the draw of any dramatic telling is that you do not always know, for certain, that the hero will succeed at everything they set out to do. With _shonen_ heroes in general, and Ranma in particular, there is something of a tradition of going in unprepared during the first battle, getting one's butt handed to them by varying degrees, and then coming back for round two with a plan to nullify the advantage. This story is not going to follow that pattern precisely, but keep in mind that each SOLDIER he's gone up against, he's only gone up against once so far, and despite their similarities they operate differently enough to each other that nullifying one advantage wouldn't do much in a fight against any of the others. Have some patience. Ranma will have his moments, believe me, I've got them all planned out.**

**I do not anticipate chapter 30 to be ready any time soon, there is a great deal of work that is needed to get it to where I want it. Sometime in September, maybe. Until then, I hope this... ahem, tides you over.**

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Chapter Twenty Nine

Earth and Water

[ ν ] - εγλ 0007, December 16

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After regrouping with Tifa and the others, the party marched further into the woods for almost an hour. They kept to the dark, stayed on rocky ground as much as possible through the old growth, and eventually discovered a small hollow in the side of a cliff. The hollow was maybe ten meters wide, but it was difficult to approach, and gave enough cover from any range. They rebuilt camp and put up a small fire for warmth. A mountain creek formed from meltwater off the snow-capped mountainside managed to supply just enough water to warm up for cleaning minor scratches sustained during their late-night run through the forest, and for Ranma's demonstration.

Yuffie's gaze solidified as she watched the girl's transformation- the boy's transformation- her thought processes jerked to a halt suddenly. Ranma, now male, stood before her. Stood taller than her. Yuffie rubbed her eyes in disbelief, then stepped into Ranma's personal space and poked at his chest. "How…" she whispered, then trailed off, continuing to poke at Ranma with an extended finger, heedless of the young man's growing discomfort.

After several seconds of being uncomfortably prodded by Yuffie, Ranma grabbed the girl's wrists. "That's enough, runt," he declared, meeting . "I ain't a store display. Ya got questions, ask 'em."

Yuffie grinned sheepishly at Ranma. "I think 'how' covers most of 'em, really," she said simply, before pulling her arms free.

"It's a curse," he answered. "I was born a boy. Cold water turns me into a girl. Warm water turns me back." Yuffie gave an odd look, but said nothing else, instead sitting down in front of her tent in silence. Ranma visibly paused. "...what, that's it?"

Yuffie shrugged. "People got problems," she countered, hopping up onto a ledge in the rock face, looking out over the forest. "Ain't my business to care about 'em."

Ranma felt a familiar sting at those words, remembering his own attitude towards almost everyone in his past. "...whatever, if that's how ya feel, fine." He started walking away, one hand rubbing at his eyes in exhaustion. "It's late, I'm goin' ta bed. Gotta show the others somethin' in the morning anyway."

Yuffie watched the dark-haired boy pace towards his bedroll in the dim light. She stared after him for several minutes, then turned her eyes out over the forest. "Wasn't expecting a _Wutaian_ to be in SOLDIER, of all places," she muttered to nobody in particular. "This is just icing on the weirdness cake."

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The next morning, well before daybreak, the party roused and rebuilt the fire to help them warm their bodies and prepare for the last leg of the journey to Junon. A simple breakfast of toast, eggs, and jerky was shared around the camp, and Ranma called his students over as the others prepared their gear. "All right, time for your first lesson for chi usage in combat."

Yuffie took up a seat nearby, but out of the way, atop a large rock that formed the edge of the hollow they had camped in. Tifa and Aerith both smiled and scooted closer to the fire. "This is that… grabbing stuff out of the fire thing you were talking about, right?" Tifa asked.

Ranma nodded, and pulled out a small leather bag of ordinary looking stones... quartz, granite, and a few even more base, polished smooth by the passage of time. "I snagged these from the river we passed by when the driver stopped for lunch yesterday," he explained. "They're not perfect, but they'll do for giving you the basic idea. _Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken_ is the name of the training, there's not really much of a name for the result. Basically, if you can pull this off, you can move your limbs fast enough to grab these stones out of the fire without being burned." With that, he upturned the bag, spilling the river-smooth stones directly into the fire. "It's gonna take some work, cuz neither of you are used to using chi like this yet… but I think you both can learn it if you apply yourselves. Watch carefully."

The two girls nodded, calm but attentive. Ranma crouched down and took a small breath, and there was a soft wind within the campfire as Ranma's arms stretched out from his body, fists closed. To the unaided eye, he appeared to be standing perfectly still, but the campfire told another story. The flames seemed to be pushed away from Ranma for a second or two, as if buffeted by a strong wind, and when he stood back up, a dozen smooth stones were being held in each hand. Aerith was impressed, but was used enough to Ranma's particular brand of physics-defying insanity not to gawk openly at the result, instead merely smiling.

Tifa, on the other hand, was staring at Ranma with a look of incredulity. "I swear, sensei, every time I think you couldn't get weirder…" Tifa muttered. "So, what, is this actually like the old martial arts masters on TV? Do we just punch the air until we punch fast enough?"

Ranma shook his head. "It is simple, but it's not that simple." He demonstrated a punch, and then withdrew his fist as quickly as he could, punching again, and a third time. "Unassisted, there's only so fast your limbs can move, especially if you're trying to put enough force for a punch into the motion. What you're gonna be doing is pushing a little bit of chi into your arms, and _only_ your arms. That's gonna help them move faster." He took a short breath and focused it into his right arm, which blurred through the air, sending a slight breeze into the campfire as he did so. "There's gonna be more to it, but you're gonna start there, an' we'll see how it goes."

"Question, sensei," Aerith raised her hand. "How do we do that?"

Ranma blinked. "Do what?"

"How do we push chi into our arms?"

Ranma had a moment where he looked frozen in place. "I…" he started. "Wait, didn't I… No, I guess I didn't go over that, did I?"

"Nope," Tifa confirmed. "You gave us a little to go on for sensing others, but that was it. So how does it work?"

"Hold up, hold up," Yuffie interrupted, hopping down from her perch. "How does some twerp like you know about this kinda stuff anyway?"

Ranma turned to look at Yuffie, then shook his head. "Wait, you're saying Wutai knows about chi techniques?"

Yuffie snorted. "The hell is _chi_?"

Ranma groaned. "Lifestream, whatever the heck this planet calls it."

"_This_ planet?" she asked indignantly.

Aerith and Tifa shared a giggle. "You should probably give her the whole story, Ranma," Aerith indicated the girl staring upwards at him. "Otherwise we're not going to get much done."

Ranma raised his hands in surrender. "Fine, fine, Yuffie, give me… ten minutes, I want to get this started with them, then we can talk."

Yuffie glared at him. "Ten minutes."

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_Thirteen minutes and forty seven seconds later…_

"...moogle dung," Yuffie said, after listening to Ranma's somewhat abridged life story. "I've never heard a bigger load in my life, and I've sat through one of President Shinra's speeches after the war."

Ranma snickered. "If it's any consolation, that won't hafta happen again," he said. "But it's all true. I ain't from here. Even the stars look different ta me. I don't care if you believe me or not, to be honest. I'm me. And I was not born here, or anywhere else on this world, far as I can tell."

Yuffie gave him a cross look. "How come ya can talk their language?" she asked. "Huh? How come your name sounds Wutaian? Your martial arts all look like they're adapted from ours too. Didja just steal it all and jumble it together on yer own?"

"I-" Ranma got out before he was interrupted again.

"And another thing, this whole 'Japan' business, whatever con ya wanna run woulda gone a lot better if you weren't pretending to be from another planet called Japan. Stupid name for a planet anyway." Yuffie inhaled sharply. "Coulda just said you had amnesia instead of tryin' ta be some weird space-man. Whole thing makes ya look stupid." Ranma rolled his eyes, and before the girl could draw another breath, he rapped her sharply on the side of the head with his knuckles. "Ow!"

Ranma smiled with a hint of satisfaction. "Japan's a country, not a planet," he started. "I don't tell people I have amnesia because I don't have amnesia. I'm not insane, last I checked, anyway. I'm not running a con. Besides which, giving someone you don't know advice on the con you think they're runnin' is a bad way to hide the idea that you're gonna run a con yourself." He thought for a moment. "I got nothin' on the language thing, though. I thought that was weird when I got here too. Then things started blowing up and I kinda had to focus on more important stuff, like keepin' my new friends safe, an' not dying."

Yuffie scoffed. "Still moogle dung," she repeated. "Ain't buyin' it."

Ranma shrugged. "Lucky for me, 'convincing a runt that I'm real' ain't on the class schedule for the night. Gonna go see to my students," he finished, turning back towards the camp.

Yuffie watched after him as he walked away. "Can't be," she said stubbornly. After a few minutes, she walked back to the camp as well.

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The fire was doused and buried, the camp had been broken down completely, and Cloud was busy passing out the last of their rations of dried meats. "If we move fast, we oughta be able to make it to Junon before the sun comes over the mountains," he said, shouldering his pack. "After that, we play it by ear, and we stay quiet for as long as we can."

Barret nodded. "Yeah, mom, I hear ya," he drawled. "We'll all play nice, we promise."

Tifa smirked at that, but said nothing. Yuffie looked between them all. "So, what're we lookin' for in Junon anyway?"

"There's a man," Cloud answered as they started their hike. "His name is Sephiroth."

Yuffie froze. "_Sephiroth_?" she gasped, shuffling her feet backwards. "What… what do you want with him?"

Cloud turned to look at Yuffie, puzzled by her reaction. Then it clicked. "...right, sorry, forgot. The Demon of Wutai, right?" Yuffie nodded, a jerky little motion. Cloud sighed. "You're… not the only one who would call him a demon these days, believe me. He… set mine and Tifa's hometown on fire. Killed our families. Did… a bunch of other things. Now he's apparently after some place he thinks is the Promised Land, from the Ancients' legends. We're gonna stop him. Once that's done, we're going to come back… and we're gonna turn Shinra inside out."

Yuffie gulped, but nodded. "He… he's dangerous, you know."

"Yeah… I know," Cloud answered softly. He turned his head to one side, his eyes downcast. "Believe me, I know.

"He might kill you," she continued.

"He might."

"And you're just gonna… go after him?"

"Not going to force you to come with us," Cloud responded, taking a step towards Yuffie. He lowered his voice some, trying for reassuring. "But _you_ know what he did. _We_ know what he did. And… he's after something that he thinks is going to give him even more power. If he's right, and he gets there, then he could do it again. He could do that to anyone's home… _everyone's_ homes. He could set Gaia on fire, or worse." He paused, taking a breath and shuttering that particular memory again. Reliving that once was more than sufficient. "So… he needs to be stopped. And we have to stop him. That's all there is to it."

Yuffie stared at Cloud in confusion, watching him turn and rejoin the others, who had continued the walk out of their campsite. Ranma looked behind at the girl. Saw the terror and resolve warring in her expression. "Yuffie," he called out, waiting for the young girl to meet his eyes. "There's no shame in being afraid."

"I'm not _afraid_ of Sephiroth!" Yuffie shouted angrily in response, clenching her hands tightly at her sides. She stared after the others for a long moment, trying to put words to her feeling. "I just… you…" she mumbled somewhat inarticulately, her feet glued to the spot as she warred with her common sense and self-preservation. After a long tense moment of consideration, she swayed briefly from side to side, and then screwed up her face in determination. "_Dammit_!" And with that outburst she dashed after them.

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It was shortly after daybreak that the group arrived at the outskirts of Junon. The sleepy-looking fishing harbor was already awake and moving, a fish market open and men shouting out over the open air, trying to sell the overnight catch from out at sea. Two bars on the harbor were still open, apparently serving alcohol to sailors and fishermen around the clock. A school of dolphins swam and hopped energetically along the surface, close enough to be seen from the shore, the water rippling behind them as they passed. Several children were running around, playing with a cat and dog. Ranma gave the cat a wide berth as the others passed by, struggling to keep himself in control.

As they approached the center of town, they noticed the large wall, constructed of metal, with a single guard in Shinra blues standing in front of a solid metal gate. A worn but sturdy wooden stairwell led down to the beach, while several homes stood on stilts even this high up from the shore. Despite the immediate lack of sun, and the cold weather overall, the air here was relatively warm. Ranma unzipped his jacket, enjoying it a bit. They spoke to several of the bystanders and townsfolk, but nobody had seen nor heard anything about a man in a black cloak.

"So…" Cloud started, turning in a circle to take in the surroundings. "Anyone got an idea to get past the guard?"

"Three, so far," Ranma piped up, "but only one of them has a chance of things staying quiet."

Cloud considered this for a moment. "All right, let's hear all three, maybe the others can be salvaged."

"The one I see with-" Ranma began.

"Could just knock 'im out," Yuffie suggested, interrupting Ranma. The others looked at her. "...what? He's workin' for Shinra."

Cloud rubbed his chin with one hand, glancing over at Barret. "It's simple, at least," he said finally. "Don't want to hurt people if we can avoid it though. We should look around and see if there's a way for us to sneak in without the guard being in the way, but we can hold onto that as a last resort."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm awesome, don't crowd me," Yuffie crowed.

Barret gestured up to what looked like a large scaffolding tower running up to the city above, planted firmly in the water just off the beach. "What about dat?" he asked. "Might be a way up."

Cloud nodded, and the group started down the stairs to the beach. "Take it easy, everyone," he cautioned, "there's a kid down there."

A little girl was indeed playing on the beach, a couple toys in her hands, and a whistle tied to a chain around her neck. She seemed to be interested in a dolphin swimming close to shore. "He~ey Mister Dolphin!" she called out in a singsong. "My name is Priscilla! Can you say Pris~cil~la?"

The dolphin did not speak, but it did leap up briefly out of the water and gave what looked to be a playful splash at Priscilla with its tail. Priscilla giggled in response, before she saw the seven strangers strolling down the old stairwell towards the beach, and towards her. Barret looked on at the interaction between the girl and the dolphin, and smiled. "Don't see somethin' like that every day," he commented.

"Who're you guys s'posed ta be?" Priscilla demanded, her hands on her hips in a defiant gesture. Then she caught sight of Cloud's very distinctive black turtleneck tunic and fatigues, and Ranma's faded blue jacket. "Are you with Shinra?" she accused.

After a few seconds of silent glances between the party, Ranma realized the girl was talking to him specifically. "Oh, the jacket," he muttered. "Nah, it was a gift. I don't like Shinra much."

Priscilla stared at him, clearly considering this possibility, before shaking her head. "You're lying," she said. "You hurt my daddy, Shinra, so go away!"

Ranma was no longer paying attention to the girl. "Should the ocean be doing that?" he asked, one hand pointing out to the horizon, though he was certain an answer was not going to be needed. In the distance, the water was rippling oddly. Ranma recalled a similar pattern in the ocean's current as they saw the school of dolphins earlier, and realized that it must have been something chasing the school of dolphins. as if something large was swimming at great speed, just beneath the surface of the waves. It was coming towards shore at an incredible pace.

Priscilla turned around and saw the enormous swell of the water approaching them. "Mister Dolphin!" she called out. "It'll hurt Mister Dolphin!" And with that she ran forward into the ocean, trying to warn the dolphin.

"Wait!" Aerith shouted, reaching out to grab the girl but she had already gone well past the woman's reach.

The dolphin smartly beat a hasty retreat out to sea as the creature collided with the shallows, the sand forcing it to a stop while the dolphin made its escape. The creature shuddered and spun in the water, flicking its tail underneath the surface of the water as it sought its prey. The motion of that tail flick collided sharply with Priscilla, knocking her hard to one side with a resounding smack. Her body dipped beneath the water about ten meters from the shore, as the creature approached the party assembled on the beach.

Ranma quickly pulled his jacket off and lay it on the beach. "Distract it!" he shouted. "I'm gonna go get the girl!"

Cloud drew his sword, and the others readied their weapons as well. Ranma charged forward into the waves, transforming as soon as she struck the cold salt water. She pushed against the wake of the sea creature's passage, and got her first good look at the monstrosity. Its body was serpentine, with long sharp spines along the bottom and middle of the body, giving it an almost skeletal appearance until you reached its head. The head was elongated in the back, and had an amphibian-like crest and frill in front of its short, misshapen face. All in all, it looked as if someone had glued a moray's body to the top half of two different lizards. If it weren't for the impending attack, it would almost seem comical.

And then it _screeched_.

There was no other word for it. It lacked the bass of a roar, sounding far more like a hawk's hunting call passed through some kind of aquatic filter. The sound felt as if it cut straight through Ranma's skin and gripped something far more primal than simple logic or threat assessment. This was a cry that spoke to the parts of the brain that most humans rarely had the opportunity to consider first-hand, and most common men dismissed them as no longer existing as a result. But as much as humans wished to claim a place at the top of the food chain, there were creatures older and craftier than them on their own world, and many of these could send grown men running in terror at the idea of them. This sound coiled its way around that central fear factory in the brain and pressed the button marked 'you are prey'.

Ranma felt the animalistic terror grip her, stopping cold in the already hip-deep waters and clutching at her head in an effort to cover her ears from the piercing screech. It took everything she had to resist the urge to run in a straight line as far away from the monster as she could, instead remaining stock-still, scarcely daring to move or breathe as ice-cold waves washed over her lower body. After what felt like an eternity there in the shallows near the rocky outcropping, she managed to take a few deep breaths, regaining control of her facilities, and began pressing forward again. Her urgency increased as she realized how much time she had spent cowering in spineless fear, pressing on through the water. She saw out of the corner of her eye the flashes of light and sounds of battle as the others recovered their own determination and began slinging spells and ammunition at the creature, keeping its attention away from Ranma's rescue attempt. The waves pushed against her every step of the way as she approached the spot where Priscilla had dropped beneath the surface, and she saw the girl in the water, resting against the sand almost as if asleep. No bubbles came out of her mouth. Ranma took a breath and dove down, reaching out and grabbing hold of the girl before pushing off the sandy floor as hard as she could manage. As she reached the surface once more, she lifted Priscilla up in a fireman's carry, careful to keep the girl's head above water as the waves struck Ranma in the back, and began wading back to shore as fast as possible. She set her down inside the warm coat, folding the jacket over her to try to trap as much heat inside as possible, before pumping a Cure spell into the girl's body.

She glanced briefly over at the battle, noticing one of the party hovering in midair inside a bubble of water. She nearly dashed over to help, but she realized that if she left the girl, she would most likely drown there on the beach with the water in her lungs. _CPR_, she thought to herself, focusing her thoughts._ Have to revive her_. She knelt down and began performing the life saving technique, as the battle raged behind her.

"Hey! What the _hell_ are you doing there with her?"

An elderly man stepped onto the beach, calling out to her, a clear look of concern on his face. His skin was weatherbeaten and rough, half-bald and moving with a limp, but even with all of that, Ranma could tell that this was likely the father of Priscilla. "She got knocked into the water when the monster attacked," Ranma said quickly, keeping the majority of her attention on her pulmonary thrusts. "My friends are trying to fight it off, but I didn't want to leave her."

The man looked taken aback. "You… you saved her… from _that_?" he muttered in astonishment. The man glanced between the group of men and women fighting valiantly against such a powerful foe, and the lone girl who had braved the creature's wrath, apparently unarmed, to save his daughter. "Bottomswell, that's what we called it," he said quietly as Ranma pinched the child's nose shut, breathing into her mouth. The man dropped to his knees in front of Priscilla, wringing his hands in worry as Ranma continued her efforts. "He's been plaguing our fishing vessels for months now. That sound it made… it's… like some kind of mental attack. It makes you… afraid, no matter how strong you are. Your friends must be something else to be fighting something like that."

"Yes sir, they're something, all right," Ranma agreed, a hint of desperation in her voice as she returned to the pulmonary thrusts. _Should it be working by now? Why isn't it working?_ She gave two more breaths, and leaned in close to check the girl's breathing. _Nothing. She can't be dead._ The martial artist was about to resume pushing in on Priscilla's chest cavity, when the girl suddenly coughed, spluttering water all over. "Oh Kami thank you, she's going to be okay," Ranma whispered as the girl turned over onto her side, the seawater flowing out of her mouth and nose. The redhead raised her eyes to the older man in front of her. "Sir, can you look after her for a moment? I need to help my friends."

"Absolutely, my girl, and thank you," he replied, leaning forward over Priscilla to give Ranma a brief embrace, before curling his arms beneath Priscilla and raising her head up slowly, trying to comfort his daughter.

Ranma stood up, and turned towards the creature, Bottomswell. She took two steps forward before moving into a full run. "Everybody get _down_!" she shouted, reaching inside her to find that bizarre technique she'd picked up from the serpent in the swamp, seemingly ready for her to use.

Yuffie looked behind her, and saw Ranma charging in fast. "...the crap is she doing?" she asked in confusion.

"Oh hell," Tifa muttered, and grabbed Yuffie sharply by the wrist, pulling her out of the way.

Cloud saw her coming, and waved her forward, holding his sword up flat over his head. Ranma nodded, and leaped forward from the edge of the beach, landing lightly on the impromptu platform. Cloud braced himself, legs square against the sand beneath the water as Ranma pushed off with one leg, the Buster Sword not moving an inch. She waited until she had the beast's full attention, and grabbed ahold of the energy inside her with her mana, pushing until it fired, the Beta spell flying out from her outstretched hands. The blast of flame erupted into Bottomswell's face, sending the creature's body recoiling from the explosion. Ranma flipped backwards as she descended, landing lightly near the shore.

As she landed, however, a lightning-quick flick of the tail from the monster collided with Ranma, sending her tumbling across the sandy beach. "Ow," she groaned. "How is it not dead yet?"

Cloud, however, was charging forward himself, his sword held down and in front of him, parting the water as he moved. He leaped up as the water rushed in around the space he left, swinging the Buster Sword around and over his head as he rose. At the climax of his superhuman vertical leap, nearly ten meters in the air and level with Bottomswell's head, he swung downwards hard, connecting with his Braver and taking off an enormous chunk of the creature's face.

Bottomswell screamed, and reared up, thrashing wildly in pain. After a moment, it tensed up, body seeming to vibrate, and there was a moment where it appeared that nothing happened. Bottomswell fell down, landing on the surface of the water, and began to dissolve into seafoam before their very eyes. "...he did it," Ranma whispered, struggling back to her feet, rubbing at her ribs tenderly where the sideswipe had connected with her. "Jeez, that's gonna leave a bruise." Then she saw the wave. Eight meters tall and rising, heading towards them at speed. "Oh, no… Everyone out of the water! _Now!_" she shouted, dashing over to Priscilla and her father. Without another word, she grabbed both of them and lifted them bodily, leaping up the stairwell to safety.

The wave crashed in. It struck like a wall, slamming into the group even as they struggled to avoid it. Ranma and the two civilians were safe, but she was forced to watch as the others tumbled helplessly in the water. Tifa struggled to shore first, dragging Yuffie to safety with her. Red managed to paddle to shore next, and Barret didn't so much swim as walk his way back to dry land. Cloud had managed to grab Aerith at the last second before the wave crested over them, and had taken the brunt of the impact himself as a result. However, it was now Aerith who was pulling Cloud to shore, the young man stumbling in obvious pain, coughing out seawater.

"You down there!" the older man next to Ranma shouted. "All of you! You just saved my daughter's life. Get your asses up here!"

"Kind of an aggressive thank you, old timer," Ranma muttered.

The man turned to face Ranma. "That… _thing_… dragged two of our boats under this month already. My best mate was on one of them… didn't make it back. Been stealin' our catches for months, chasin' schools of marlin and dolphins up and down the coast, and causing all kinds of havoc." He looked away for a moment, before his gaze passed over Priscilla. "She's… Priscilla is all I have left. You saved her, and you took out the monster to boot. There is no payment I can offer that would ever match what you've done, but at least do me the honor of granting you my hospitality. Come up when you've got your friends together, you can at least rest up and dry off in my home." He reached out a weathered arm and slapped Ranma companionably on the back. It was like receiving a very warm embrace from a teak log.

Ranma coughed violently in response, the breath having been briefly driven from her lungs. "Thanks, old man," she answered between coughs. "We'll be up in a few minutes. And thank you."

"Hah," the man barked in laughter. "And don't call me old. Name's Presley. Don't keep me waitin'." With that, he carried the girl up the stairs.

Ranma leaped back down to the shore, and helped the others up, tossing a Cure over Cloud to keep him conscious as they carted him back to safety, the blond coughing up a few mouthfuls of seawater. "Apparently, we've gone and become heroes or somethin'," Ranma explained. "C'mon, I think we all could use a rest while we think up another plan."

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"Tifa!"

Cloud woke up with a start, wincing slightly at the nearby lamp glaring into his eyes as he struggled to regain his bearings. Memory flowed back in spurts. The beach, the fight with the serpent, the wave that briefly crushed him against the shore with the weight of its passage. Being carried here by Ranma and Tifa to recover his strength. _The voice... was that a dream?_ He looked around, and saw Tifa standing there over him. "Cloud, you need to get up."

Cloud sat up, still a bit groggy, but his body healed considerably over the space of the short nap as Tifa got their gear together. "Tifa… I was thinking… about Nibelheim."

Tifa stopped short. "What about it?" she asked lightly.

"When Sephiroth and I were there… I don't remember seeing you much. Where were you?"

Tifa looked at him. "I was with you." She knelt down and looked him in the eyes. "Remember? You said it yourself, I led you and Sephiroth to the reactor in the mountains."

Cloud shook his head. "Yeah, I know, but…" he took a moment to collect his thoughts. "I mean, what about the rest of the time? We were there for more than a week. I don't remember seeing you except for going to the reactor and… right after the incident."

"I…" she paused. "I don't remember right now. It was five years ago, there was a lot going on. That's not important right now, though, something's happening outside." She pulled him to his feet, and they stepped outside together.

The noise hit Cloud like a wall. "The hell…?" Trumpets and horns blared. Drums and marching feet beat a steady rhythm. Even though the sounds were happening somewhere above and in the distance, it could be heard clearly even from the beachfront they stood in front of.

The others were assembled outside. "Sounds like a party up there," Ranma noted as Cloud and Tifa arrived. "Do you have anything like Mardi Gras here?"

"...the hell is a 'Marty Grah'?" Yuffie looked at Ranma, confused.

Before Ranma could explain further, Presley stepped out of the clinic above them, and Priscilla followed behind him, carrying Ranma's jacket. Priscilla walked down, taking the stairs one at a time, but eventually ended up standing in front of the group. "You look different," she declared, facing Ranma.

"I do," she answered gently, crouching down to meet the little girl's eyes. "It's a long story, but I'll be okay, I promise. How about you, kiddo? Thought you were in trouble there for a minute."

"No way," Priscilla replied. "My daddy told me you saved me from the water, and all of you helped fight that monster. I thought you were with Shinra because you had one-a their coats, and the big blondie had SOLDIER clothes. But you all are good people." She smiled, and held out her hands, Ranma's coat neatly folded and dry in both arms. "Here's your coat back."

Ranma smiled softly, and took the jacket, tossing it back over her shoulders. "Thanks, kiddo."

Priscilla beamed and then walked over to Cloud. "This is for you," she said, holding up a small red orb on a chain. "It was my sister's. She said that the lady inside protects people."

Cloud took the orb and examined it carefully. "Shiva," he whispered.

Priscilla nodded. "That's the lady's name, yeah," she said. "How did you know?"

Cloud smirked faintly towards the girl. "The lady inside just told me so."

"Ohhhh," she mouthed conspiratorially. "Okay, mister, you better take good care of her, okay?"

"I will, Priscilla, thanks." He stood up. "Do either of you know what all that noise is from up there?"

Presley nodded. "My brother works in one of the stores up on the road by the military docks. Apparently they sealed off the city to throw the new President a welcoming ceremony."

Barret turned sharply at that. "Rufus is here?" he asked. "I gotta pay my respects."

Priscilla looked confused, but Presley clearly took the meaning as intended. "Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't blame you for any problem you have with the man, but you're gonna have a lot of trouble getting up there right now. It's all sealed off, see?" He pointed to the guard and the gate at the edge of the houses. "That's the only way to get to the upper city. Military personnel only, since two days ago."

Aerith looked around. "We'll have to find another way up."

Red glanced between the others. "I hope you can think of a solution that doesn't involve tying me to Ranma's back again," he remarked. "That was less than pleasant and I would rather not repeat the experience."

Priscilla giggled. "The doggy talks! That's so cool!"

"I am not a doggy, I am-" Red's protests were smothered by an enormous hug from the girl, who gleefully patted at Red's fur and ears.

"Red?" Ranma said quietly.

"Ranma?"

"Take the compliment," she commented. "Trust me on this, it'll be easier than explaining." Red glared up at Ranma, but relented and allowed the girl to embrace him warmly. Even Yuffie smiled at the exchange.

Cloud cleared his throat, bringing their attention back to the moment. "So, any ideas on how to get up there?" he asked.

"Oh, I know!" Priscilla yelled out. "Mister Dirk can help!"

Presley huffed, running one hand over his chin. "He might, though he ain't been back long." He turned to the others, a serious look on his face. "He's kinda crap as people go, but he might know how to getcha in. Just don't get in over your heads."

Ranma shrugged. "Old man, 'over our heads' is kinda where we've been livin' the last few weeks, ta be honest." She crouched down and met the little girl's eyes. "Okay, Priscilla, can you lead us to Mister Dirk?"

The girl grinned from ear to ear. "Follow me!"

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Priscilla led them a short ways off the main road into Lower Junon, past houses, a cannery, more houses, and a factory, to a deep gully in the foot of the Junon Mountain with a ladder set into one side, leading up to what looked like a shack made of part of a boat and assorted junk metal that had been built into the wall of the mountain. A single window covered with a set of metal blinds. "That's Mister Dirk's house," she said cheerfully, pointing to the shack. "Dad says he isn't always nice, but he used ta bring Jamie flowers when he came by. That was my sister's name."

Aerith gave the little girl a smile. "Then we'll try to be nice to him, how about that?"

Priscilla gave a nod, and took a few hopping steps forward, balancing with a practiced ease on the grooves in the stone. "Hey, Mister Dirk!"

A few seconds of silence followed. Then there was a sound of a gruff male voice from somewhere inside the shack. "Prissy, I thought I told you, no games before noon, ya got it?"

Priscilla screwed up her face and stuck out her tongue. "Dummy!" she shouted. "I brang you some people!"

Some more sounds from above and inside, and the metal blinds over the window twitched. Nothing beyond them was visible, but Ranma could tell they were being watched. "You sure they ain't with Shinra?" the voice sounded again.

"Yeah, I'm sure," Priscilla answered, waving one hand over her head. "They helped me this morning when the monster came up to the beach."

Silence covered the gully for a few seconds. "Yeah, okay, Prissy, let's see what you found, then." A moment later, the door opened up, and a wiry-looking man stepped out onto the slim balcony. His short ginger hair ended in long sideburns down to his cheekbones, and he wore a dingy white button-up shirt and black slacks, with black leather gloves over both hands, and dark shades obscuring his eyes. A lit cigar rested in one hand, and a pistol in the other. "This who ya brought?"

"Uh-huh," Priscilla nodded her head. "They want help to get up to the city."

The man rolled his cigar between his fingers, flicking off a bit of ash into the wind, but otherwise said nothing for several seconds, apparently sizing up the group from behind his sunglasses. "Yeah, okay, c'mon up, y'all, let's talk. Prissy, get back home to yer pops, I'll be by later."

Priscilla gave another exaggerated nod of her head. "Okay, Mister Dirk, see ya later!" she called out, waving a hand in farewell. She turned to Cloud. "Hope you get where ya need to go," she said quietly.

"So do I," Cloud answered. "Thanks, Priscilla."

The girl smiled and bounced away, and the group approached the shack. Dirk looked down from above. "One at a time on the ladder, got it?"

A chorus of acknowledgement circled from the group as Cloud approached the ladder. Ranma looked down at Red. "Gonna need help getting up there?" she asked. In response, Red bounded forward, balancing on a thin outcropping in the face of the gully, propelling himself from there to the sheer wall of the cliff, and leaping off of the wall to land on the narrow balcony at the top of the ladder. "Whoa," she gasped in surprise. "Didn't know you could jump like that."

Red grinned down at them. "I grew up in a mountainous area far more treacherous than this," he answered. "I learned from a young age how to navigate this type of terrain."

Ranma nodded, and followed quickly up the ladder after Cloud reached the peak. Entering the shack, the inside was not what she'd expected. Instead of cramped quarters and thin metal walls, the outer face had apparently been built to conceal a spacious cavern, and much of the inside was furnished with comfortable, if well-worn, couches and chairs. A kitchenette occupied one wall, and a series of pipes along the vaulted roof indicated plumbing. "Huh," she muttered, stepping out of the way of the entrance as Barret came up the ladder.

"Y'all have ta forgive me, I don't entertain often," Dirk called from the next room. "Take a seat, I'll be out in a minute. Need a clean shirt."

Ranma suppressed the reflex to remove her shoes, but strode over to one of the threadbare couches and took a seat as the others began to pile in one at a time. Red plopped down on the cavern floor between Ranma and Tifa's seats. "You know how to get into the city?" Tifa asked out loud.

There was a laugh from the other room. "Gettin' in's easy," Dirk replied, "ya just go up to the front door and knock. Gettin' in, when the whole town's on lockdown, and ya don't want anyone knowin' you're there, that's somethin' else." The man reappeared from around a corner, wearing a crisp white shirt. "That's what ya want, ain't it?"

Barret eyed the man warily, but said nothing. Cloud glanced between the others, and then back to Dirk. "Is that something you can do for us?"

"I've been known to get some stuff through, on occasion," he commented. He pulled out a cheap metal chair from a dining table, and sat down in it, facing the seven travelers. "How soon, and how many of you?"

"All of us," Cloud answered, "and as soon as possible."

Dirk paused to drag on his cigar, exhaling a cloud of smoke towards the door. "Everybody's always in a hurry," he muttered, his face turning slowly to take in each of the individuals in his home. "Y'all tryin' to get across to Costa? There's easier ways, yanno."

Cloud shook his head. "We're looking for someone."

"An' even though you think I can getcha into Junon," Dirk countered, "you don't think I could find this person for ya?"

"It's not that," Tifa cut in. "It's more that if you found him, he'd kill you."

Another pause. "Ah," Dirk breathed, a puff of smoke floating in front of him. "So the rumors are true." He took another long drag on the cigar, and let out a sigh. "So, if you ain't with Shinra, what the hell do you want with the General?"

Cloud's eyes flickered in recognition at the title. "You know Sephiroth?"

"Not much more than the next person," Dirk answered casually, his rough baritone almost placid, "but that doesn't answer my question. You're after him. You're clearly not complete idiots, ya look like ya came loaded for bear, but even ordinary idiots still have enough sense to stay out of the way of a man like that. Which means either you are so far beyond stupid that you're a danger to my little operation, or you got a real good reason to find him. So what's the reason?"

Barret met the man's eyes. "You ain't gonna let us in unless ya know why we want Sephiroth, is that it?"

"Not quite," Dirk said. "I might not help ya at all even when I know the reason. But I gotta assess the risks. If I don't know the reason, y'all might as well go beat your heads against the front door and see how that goes, cuz it won't be me."

Silence filled the room for an uncomfortable length of time. Cloud turned to Tifa, and caught her gaze. Tifa nodded in response, understanding the question in his eyes. "All right," Cloud conceded. "Five years ago, he destroyed our town," he gestured between himself and Tifa, "killed our families, and burned the place to the ground. That would be enough for just us, but we have reason to believe he may be a threat to the whole world now."

Dirk ran one gloved hand over his sideburns. "And y'all wanna save Gaia out of the goodness of your hearts?"

"Hold it, y'all," Barret waved a hand at Cloud, cutting him off. "Thought I recognized ya." He stood up, arms still at his sides, and took a half step forward, squaring his shoulders. The movement was apparently enough to set off Dirk, who lifted his pistol and aimed it at Cloud, still seated. Barret remained where he was, but his aggressive stance remained. "Four years ago. Corel mountains. Used ta be a reactor there."

Dirk's hand did not waver, the barrel of the weapon still pointed at Cloud. "Heard it melted down. What's that got ta do with me?"

"Cuz I helped ya get in there, the day it melted down."

A long, pregnant silence fell over the room. Dirk's head turned slightly to face Barret before responding. "Must be thinkin' of someone else, guy, I ain't-"

"Shut it!" Barret barked, but remained where he was. "I remember every damn minute of that day. Tattooed on the inside of my eyes. You said you was gonna make it right. And then the whole place went up. Shinra blamed us, _destroyed_ my village, _murdered_ my wife and everyone I knew, and _took_ my _arm_," he waved the gun-arm between them in emphasis. "Any of that sound like it was _made right_ ta you?"

Dirk stood stock still for a few seconds, then lowered his pistol to one side. "No, it doesn't," he admitted, lowering his head. "I didn't know that it'd get taken out on your town. And I don't work for Shinra anymore."

"An' you ain't gonna tell me what happened?" Barret asked.

The ginger-haired man shook his head lightly, before turning his face back to Barret, his eyes still concealed by the thick shades. "Buddy, if I had all day, I couldn't tell you all the _reasons_ I can't give you the details," Dirk responded. He returned to his seat, setting the pistol down on a table nearby. "Trust me when I say that knowing what happened would _not_ make you feel better. About any of it. Cuz it sure as _shit_ doesn't do a thing for me." He took a long drag on his cigar, looking over the party once more. "I'll help you get into Junon," he said finally.

The others hesitated for a moment. "You will?" Yuffie blurted out.

Dirk gave them a nod. Barret narrowed his gaze. "Hold it," he said softly, lifting his good arm and pointing one finger accusingly at Dirk. "Why should we trust you?"

Dirk shrugged, flicking the ash from his cigar. "Cuz I'm literally all ya got, man," he answered, waving his empty hand vaguely to one side. "There's the door if it doesn't suit ya."

Barret let out a low growl, and took a step forward before Tifa sprang to her feet, restraining him. Cloud stood slowly, stepping towards Dirk. "What will your help cost us?" he asked quietly.

Dirk leaned back slightly in a stretch, and gave a wry smile. "My normal rate is three thousand gil, base rate for a job, marked up based on risk and complexity. But," he paused, holding a finger over his head. "I screwed the pooch where Mister Hand Cannon there is concerned a while back. That puts me in his debt, and that's not somewhere I like bein'." He puffed at the cigar thoughtfully. "Fifty gil a head. That'll get you in the city, on a side street, out of the way. After that, though, you're on your own. And you're gonna have your work cut out for you, cuz I doubt you're the only ones lookin' for the General right now."

Cloud nodded, reaching into his pockets and pulling out the requested payment. "Anywhere we should steer clear of?" he asked, handing the gil to Dirk.

Dirk gave a wide grin. "Yeah," he said. "_Junon_. Follow me." Cloud motioned for the others, and they made their way through the cavernous home to a metal plate set into the wall. Dirk slid part of the plate to the side, and the rest opened up, revealing a long rough-hewn tunnel into the mountain. "The tunnel's lit up at points, but don't follow the lights," he advised. "Walk straight, take no turns, there's lots of traps down the sidetrack tunnels. You'll come out in Junon in about ten minutes time, on a back road near an old fishery that ain't been used in a while. If you get caught, you don't know me, and you better not show them this tunnel. You want out, you find your own way, cuz I don't open it from this end."

"I understand," Cloud said, and stepped through. "Mind your feet, everyone."

The others followed, Barret bringing up the rear. He turned to Dirk once they were all through the entrance. "After what you did, I still don't trust ya," he grumbled.

"I'd be disappointed if you did," Dirk responded lightly. He leaned against the stone overhang that the panel had been set into. "For what it's worth, the Corel reactor going up wasn't my fault. But it was my responsibility. That's why I'm helpin' ya now."

Barret scowled, but gave the man a reluctant thumbs-up. "You an' I got some unfinished business later on, man," he declared. "But this'll stand in your favor when the time comes."

"I'll be waiting, big guy," Dirk responded, and pulled the panel shut, sliding the bolts home behind them.

* * *

**A/N: The Demon of Wutai, indeed. I remember I read that term in at least three different fanfics, and when I went to research it, I was very surprised to learn that it had no official history, it was just a fan name. Hell if I'm not gonna run with it though. :D**

**Bottomswell was a difficult fight if you're coming in at a lower level... or if you're an idiot like I was when I was first playing this game at the age of somethingsomething, and kept leaving the water traps on your characters because you thought you were supposed to fight faster or harder when you were dropping HP like a rock. Hey, don't look at me like that, it was my first JRPG (unless you count Dragon Quest 1, and I was like four then). On death, he uses an attack called Big Wave, which is... well, it's a big wave. I wanted to do something a little more interesting for that than 'water comes in and washes over them for some damage.' Aside from that, I would not call Bottomswell 'interesting'. So... ****I decided to up his danger factor by giving him the terror attack. Honestly, something that big and weird looking, I was honestly surprised it didn't have something more original to it.**

**No Mister Dolphin shenaniganery this time around. It's a somewhat interesting mechanic in the game, but it doesn't make sense in the context of the fic, and it splits the party during a time when they really need to stay together. As a result, the detour to meet... Dirk. The eagle-eyed among you may recognize Dirk. And you may have guessed, Dirk isn't his real name. He's been... around, for a while before this story. He's done some things, seen some shit, and is laying low for now. But if you've been in the game as long as someone like Dirk has, you always leave yourself a way out.**

**Hope you like it! Feedback and comments welcome.**


	30. The Wall

**Well, I said I'd have it ready in September, and somehow I managed to stick to that. Big thank you to Glitch for beta reading and helping me edit this monster of a chapter. This chapter has gone through a lot of work, and it is far and away the longest chapter in this fic to date. More on that in the post-chapter notes. We're two days after the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and it's still a raw wound for me right now. I know that she was not and is not the catalyst for freedom and equality, but without her and others like her, I honestly would not have the legal right to exist in public. Aside from how much I owe her personally, I also have a lot of respect for her and for how much she has managed to do for everyone over the course of my life. May her memory be a blessing, and may we all have the time we need to mourn her in our own ways.**

**Comments  
cyde - Well spotted. The... let's call them the renegade Turks, for sake of distinction, will be popping up here and there. Some of them may be important as time goes on. Legend is kind of... well, he's been around a while, to say the least. As far as Yuffie goes... she's got her plans still, but they're not necessarily the same plans as the original story. Wait and see.  
KurokawaTaizen: Welcome to the fic! Hope you enjoy your stay, because as you can probably tell already, this one's in it for the long haul.  
doraemax: Yeah, getting that visceral reaction with Yuffie was something I wanted to give a moment to shine. Between him, Angeal, Genesis, and a handful of others, they turned a populated island nation with a powerful military force into... well... what it is today. And that's the kind of thing that leaves scars. As for the Bottomswell terror attack, yeah, it hit the others too, but Ranma wasn't focused on how the others were dealing with that at the time.**

**Looks like new schedule is maybe one chapter per month until I get my groove back completely. But I have been trucking along in future chapters, and I honestly can't wait to show you what I've got planned. Some of it is pretty darn crazy. Until then... well, read on, and we'll get there when the train pulls in.**

* * *

Chapter Thirty

The Wall

[ ν ] - εγλ 0007, December 17

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_One day previously..._

Rufus Shinra looked down at Junon Port from his helicopter, the barrel and bulk of the mako cannon gleaming in the sunlight. "How much longer?" he called across the intercom to the pilot.

"Seven minutes, sir," the pilot replied. "The crosswinds coming off the mountain can be tricky this time of day, so we have to descend slowly coming into the airport."

Rufus nodded his understanding, and glanced out the window at the other helicopter. Heidegger was visibly remonstrating the pilot of his craft, and Rufus rubbed at his brow with one hand in frustration. "How Father ever put up with that man is beyond me," he muttered, the mic on his headset picking it up and transmitting to the pilot, who wisely said nothing. He flipped the channel on his headset to the passenger compartment. "Seven minutes," he called in.

"We're ready, yo," a voice called back, the drawling tone audible even through the aircraft comm system.

"Remember the mission," Rufus said simply, adjusting himself in his seat. "Sephiroth was reported by one of our agents in Junon two days ago. He's already killed a dozen troopers and one SOLDIER. If you spot him, call for reinforcements. Do not engage on your own. If you don't have reinforcements, or can't get them, then you run. Our goals are to sweep the city, home by home if we have to, but we have to confirm if he's still here or if he's jumped transport off the continent. If he's here, we corner him and take him down. If we can't spot him, assume he's left."

"And if he's left," a much deeper voice called out over the comm, "we get one of the transports loaded and ready to fly."

"Yes," Rufus confirmed. "Two transports, in fact, and as many troops as are ready from the Junon barracks. Once we know where he's going, we're going to box him in. I'll take half the forces…" Rufus glared across the intervening space between himself and the other helicopter, watching as Heidegger berated the pilot further, "...and Heidegger…" he growled in disgust, "and come in from one side in the Highwind. Amon, you will take command of the others and make your landing in the Gelnika. If we manage this right, we can sweep in from both directions around any landing point in range of Junon, cut off any retreat he has, and take him down."

"What about AVALANCHE?" a dignified voice asked. "They've been a thorn in our side for a while now."

Rufus grinned. "That they have," he admitted, flipping through his handwritten notes. "Fortunately, Tseng, as of about six hours ago, First Class Lars reports that they have been neutralized." Rufus paused for a moment, as he read the summary of the report again. "Good to know you can stop an AVALANCHE by dropping a mountain on it, wouldn't you say?

There was a beat, followed by a few low chuckles over the cabin channel. "Sir, while I would hesitate to doubt First Class Lars' report of a successful mission," Tseng replied over the comms, either oblivious or undeterred by the presence of humor, "I would also like to point out what this group has already managed to survive, and the damage they've caused while we believed them eliminated."

In the cockpit, Rufus' grin faded to a humorless smile. "Agreed, though his report was most emphatic." He paused, glancing across at the other chopper, where Heidegger was now being forcibly restrained into his seat by two MPs, the pilot visibly relieved even at this distance. "It's a shame we could not learn more about the girl."

"Once we locate Hojo, I'm sure all of the data on the Ancient will-"

"I don't mean the Ancient," Rufus interrupted. "The fighter. Ranma Saotome."

There was a pause. "Eh, fuck her," Reno cut in. "About the only thing I regret at this point is not kicking her ass myself. She deserved it."

Rufus gave a huff of amusement. "Setting aside your injured pride, Reno-"

"Don't forget my injured body," Reno quipped.

Rufus gave a small smirk despite himself. "In any case, there's a lot we could have learned from someone so capable. Possibly enough to help create the next generation of SOLDIER. But it seems that opportunity has now passed. I wonder why you never took her up on her offer, though, Tseng?" he asked lightly. "She seemed amenable to talk. According to you, she even offered to tell us the whole story."

"Stories can be true or false, sir," Tseng responded evenly. "I'm interested in the facts."

Rufus smiled gently. "Quite," he said simply. "Very well. Today, we have bigger fish to fry. You all have your orders, you know what you need to do."

"Yes, sir," a chorus of voices came over the comms.

"Seal the city as soon as we land."

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_Now…_

Ranma followed the others through the narrow tunnels, the dim lighting providing just enough illumination to avoid clocking one's head against the stone roof. The cramped quarters kept their focus tuned to the path ahead of them. Dirk's instructions had been thorough; a few flickering lightbulbs hung suspended from girders and supports at various points, many of them down side tunnels which were somewhat obviously branches from the main path, but only in one direction; coming down the tunnel from the city would look like a maze of forked tracks and switchbacks, and there was no telling what lay at the end of them.

Tifa was in line just ahead of her, but seemed quieter than usual, her expression pensive. "Hey," Ranma called forward quietly. "You okay?"

Tifa ran one hand through her hair, and forced a smile. "Yeah, I guess," she said quietly. There was a pause as they continued shuffling through the tunnel. "No, I guess not," Tifa revised. "I've known Barret a long time, and he never told me any of that… I knew Shinra had done something to him, but he was always quiet when it came to the details."

Ranma blinked in surprise. "So… what, none of that?" she asked. "He never said a word?"

"Not one," Tifa confirmed, ducking her head for a moment to avoid a sharp outcropping as they passed. "I mean, of course Marlene's adopted, but that doesn't matter at this point. She's his daughter, he's her daddy, and neither of them would change that for anything at this point. But…" she let out a low sigh. "We… well, mostly him, but I was there when he decided to form AVALANCHE, along with Jessie, Wedge, and Biggs. I've known him since about the middle of last year. I know he's… a very private person… Goddess, he's even worse than Cloud that way. Suddenly getting all that dropped into the middle of what you know about a person…" She paused for a long moment as they shuffled sideways through a particularly narrow section of the tunnel. "It's jarring."

Ranma walked in silence for several seconds, mulling that over, before Aerith cut in from just behind Ranma. "Yeah, but he's still Barret, isn't he?"

"What?" Tifa looked taken aback.

"He's still the same person he was ten minutes ago, or yesterday, or even last month, right?" Aerith asked quietly. "He hasn't changed. Your understanding of him has."

Tifa took a breath, but paused, considering Aerith's words. "I guess you're right," she answered finally. "I guess that means I'm the one who has to adjust."

"Now you're getting it," Aerith confirmed with a smile.

"Hey back there," Cloud called cautiously. "Keep it down, it looks like we're near the exit. Don't want to spook anyone."

"'Bout time," Barret's voice sounded from the back of the line. "Felt like we've been in here forever."

Cloud reached a sharp turn in the tunnel leading to what looked like a solid metal plate set deeply into the stone on all sides. There was a small red button on one side of the rock face, and lacking anything else to do, Cloud pressed the button. After a few seconds, the wall began to slide noiselessly to the side, and daylight appeared ahead of them.

Cloud emerged from the tunnel onto a narrow alleyway, just as Dirk had described, followed shortly by the rest of the group. Ranma glanced around as they came into the city, blinking as her eyes adjusted to the light of day. The single largest landmark by far was a massive metal building that dominated the skyline; to which was attached an equally long cannon that pointed out to sea, supported by an enormous system of gears and struts. The stale smell of fish, long since past any consideration of freshness, permeated the area. A handful of homes sat in a row along the alley opposite the disused factory, brickwork and mortar buildings that had been set directly into the mountain face somehow. As Barret stepped out of the gap behind them, there was a soft _ding_ and the metal wall slid closed again, the edges pressed almost seamlessly against the mountain face, leaving no sign it was there and no obvious way to re-enter.

"Well, at least Dirk was serious about how out of the way we are," Cloud commented, holding a hand to his head briefly as he adjusted to the intensity of the light after the darkness in the tunnel. "I've been in Junon before, back when I was still in training... Upper Main Street is about a kilometer that way," and he pointed down and to the west, away from the mountain they had just crawled through.

Tifa nodded her understanding. "So we should be able to stay out of sight by using these back alleys, right?"

Cloud shook his head. "Only to a point," he began, gesturing for the others to circle around him. As they grouped up, he used his fingers to sketch out an imaginary map in mid-air before them. "Junon's divided into sectors, kind of like Midgar, but they're in big square segments instead of a circle. The sectors are tiered out to four or five levels, with side roads that border the sectors in long inclines. Each sector is separated by a long wall that extends from the mountain face all the way up to Upper Main Street," he continued, drawing a thick line at the 'top' of the map with two fingers. "The back alleys only go so far, and even the side roads terminate either at the sector border or at Upper Main. Eventually we'll have no other option but to go out on the main road. We might be able to minimize the risk until then by staying on the back roads and footpaths, but we'll run out of those long before we run out of Junon."

Barret ran one hand under his chin in thought. "So we gotta expose ourselves no matter what," he summarized.

Cloud inclined his head in response. "Best we can do is choose when and where," he answered, raising his voice slightly over a distant rumbling sound, "and even that's going to depend on the patrols."

Ranma peeked around the corner. "Like that one?" she asked, pointing down the street as the distant rumbling sound became less distant.

Cloud followed Ranma's finger to the source of the sound, a large armored vehicle wheeling down one of the streets, and turning into the mouth of the alley they were sitting in. "...oh hell," he muttered, motioning for all of them to silence. Each of them pressed against the modest cover afforded them by the shadow of the building they had been standing near, and remained still and quiet as the mechanical sound drew nearer.

After about ten seconds, a large vehicle rolled past at low speed. Ranma was not familiar with military vehicles, but to her eyes it looked like an oversized pickup truck, except with all traces of human comfort stripped out. The passenger seat was instead a rotating turret on which a heavy machine gun had been mounted, and was manned by an alert-looking trooper who was thankfully facing in the opposite direction. The rear flatbed had been hollowed out significantly and now held seating for six more troopers. The outer shell was heavily armored. Even the glass looked to be thicker than on a civilian truck.

The vehicle passed, none of the troopers calling out in alarm, and all seven of them moved to the opposite side of the street to keep out of sight. A long, tense quiet passed over the group as they waited, and after several more seconds Cloud peeked his head out of the dead end and glanced back and forth down the street. "This is bad," he muttered after the sound had faded into the distance. "Shinra military policy doesn't have an active gunner in a patrol vehicle unless there's a known threat. Looks like you made the right call, Aerith. Sephiroth was here."

Tifa shared a grim look with Cloud. "We need to find out if he still is."

"How're you gonna do that?" Yuffie interjected, waving one hand for attention. "Can't just walk up to the nearest SOLDIER an' ask them if they've seen him."

Red gave a canine smile. "The girl has a point," he added. "We are, unfortunately, wanted criminals. It will be difficult for us to gather information in a place such as this."

Cloud shrugged. "We'll have to do the best we can, hope we get lucky," he admitted. He glanced around for a moment. "Our top priority right now is to stay out of sight. We gather what information we can, as quietly as we can. If we find out Sephiroth is still here, we track him down and end him. If he's already left, we find out where and we follow him if we can." The others nodded their understanding. "For now, let's start moving, we won't find anything standing around here."

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The group had been walking along the first sector for almost 45 minutes, playing hide-and-seek with the regular patrols, and staying out of sight. However, they were nearing the far corner of the sector and their chances to stay in the alleys were rapidly dwindling. Barret and Red were taking turns pulling anchor duty for the group, making sure they stayed together and keeping a watchful eye or nose on their flank, while Aerith, Tifa, and Yuffie followed the leaders. Cloud set the pace and the direction, with Ranma close on his heels.

"Hey, Cloud."

Cloud turned to Ranma as they continued to walk. "What's up?"

"We need to leave soon," Ranma replied softly.

Cloud shook his head. "We haven't found Sephiroth-"

"You wanna risk their lives on that hunt right now?" she hissed back, keeping her voice low to avoid worrying the others. "We're deep in the lion's den right now-"

"The what's den?" Cloud asked, confused.

Ranma waved it off. "Earth phrase, guess you don't have those either. Fine, we're in danger. Every minute we spend here, we're gettin' closer to caught. We can fight the troopers, we've all proved that. But right now I think you an' me are the only ones in the group who can keep up with SOLDIERs in a fight. An' you said there's a whole school for SOLDIER here, right?"

Cloud paused near the end of an alley facing a larger street. "What are you getting at?"

"What I'm gettin' at," Ranma continued, counting off on her fingers, "is that you can probably handle a SOLDIER. And I can probably handle a SOLDIER. Yuffie… might be able to fool a SOLDIER into thinking she can handle 'em, but that just raises the risk. So when SOLDIERs three through ten show up, who's gonna handle them?" Cloud hesitated, but Ranma continued, gesturing briefly down the alley. "They ain't ready. An' that means _we_ ain't ready."

"What do you want us to do, leave him here?" Cloud demanded. "He could be on his way to the Promised Land right now, and-"

"And wherever it is, it ain't _here_, right?" Ranma cut him off. "Does this look like fertile soil, flowers and life everywhere?"

Cloud hesitated for a long moment before he took a breath and nodded his head in understanding. "What's your idea then?"

"You said there's a harbor here, right?"

"Yeah."

"So let's stop chasin' this guy and try ta get ahead of him instead," Ranma explained. "We find a ship, we get the hell out of Shinra's city, and we land somewhere else that Shinra isn't runnin' either. Worst case, we're out from under the choppin' block here, and if we get lucky Sephiroth'll end up bein' on a boat headed right for us after we land. If not, we get info from somewhere less dangerous and head out from there."

Cloud considered that for a few seconds. "There's two problems with that. One is that Shinra basically runs the planet at this point, but I get what you mean about somewhere lower-risk. And two-"

Ranma cut him off as a rumbling sound approached. "Ssh, get down!"

All seven of them quickly stepped into the shadow of the alley as another fully loaded military transport rounded the bend. "...shit," Cloud muttered, waving the group back a little at a time, until they were fully on the other side of the building. "A bit close for comfort. And yeah, that's the second problem."

The trooper vehicle had stopped at a gated guard station halfway down the road, and three armed troopers debarked from the rear of the vehicle, along with an absolute tower of a man carrying what looked like a rectangular plate of steel strapped to his back, nearly as tall as himself. His skin was dark and his hair shaved close into a traditional military-style buzzcut. He wore a black sleeveless tunic and a leather girdle above black fatigues, the uniform of a SOLDIER. The troopers entered the guard station and raised the gate, letting the transport past, but they and the SOLDIER remained at the post.

"The hell are they doin'?" Barret wondered, peering back around the corner.

Yuffie leaped up, grabbing onto a windowsill, and hauled herself onto it, using it as a perch, getting her own vantage point for the troopers around the corner. "You think that Dirk guy sold us out?"

Barret growled in response. "If he did, Imma break down that gate an'-"

"Will you two quit _yammerin_'?" Ranma hissed under her breath. "Gonna give us all away."

Cloud pulled Barret back and peeked out himself, taking in the current situation. The SOLDIER appeared to be speaking over a wired telephone attached to the guard post, and directing the other troopers to take positions in and around the post. "Looks like he's reporting to someone. We should move while we can."

Tifa stared out across the width of the street between them and the next building. "Do you think we can make it without being seen?"

Cloud watched as one of the troopers pointed directly at his exposed head and tapped the SOLDIER on the back, who had just hung up the telephone in the guard station. "No. I don't."

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Seconds earlier…

"Very well, if the _Highwind_ and the _Gelnika_ are both out of commission, then we'll have to go by sea," Rufus directed the listener over the phone line. "Beyond that, the plan doesn't change. Get two sea transports ready to sail. I don't care what kind, and I don't care who you have to line up to make it happen, but I want them both ready as soon as possible." There was a moment of silence as the person on the other end of the phone line responded. "Good, see you again when we begin the operation." He set the phone back on the hook and turned to Heidegger. "Our two most valuable airships, out for the count. The airstrip communications lines, all down. And if your military reports have any merit to them, then Sephiroth has managed to evade capture from an entire army of troops and SOLDIERs while hidden within our seat of military power. Well done, Heidegger," he concluded with a gentle clapping of his hands.

Heidegger gave off a nervous laugh, though it sounded identical in almost all respects to his normal bleating. "Gyeh-heh-heh… Can't be helped, sir," he responded. "The main driveshaft for the _Highwind_-"

"Yes, you said." Rufus frowned. "I find it difficult to believe that not one but two aircraft independently suffered mysterious, difficult to diagnose, and even more difficult to repair mechanical failures, within hours of each other." He stepped around the table with a disarmingly slow pace to his movements, hands clasped behind his back. "Compounded on this is the fact that the seawall at the naval yard has been very blatantly sabotaged, which means that here, surrounded by thousands of your finest troopers, SOLDIERs, and officers, one man managed to worm his way into what should be the most secure locations on Gaia and lock us within our own city. Either you have _recruited_ the most inept guards possible, or you have _trained_ them to ineptitude. Either way, your performance in this matter is appalling."

Heidegger said nothing for a long moment, his gaze shaky, keeping himself steady as Rufus came to a halt directly in front of him. "Sir, if I may say so-"

Rufus was already mid-swing at the word 'may'. The haymaker collided squarely with Heidegger's left jaw, sending the man sprawling to the ground in a heap "_What_ are you still doing here?" Rufus demanded, shaking his hand in discomfort from the impact. "I've already told you, I want you to commandeer sea transport for our forces. Your failure to secure the airstrip and the naval yard has led us to this situation. I'm _not_ interested in your excuses. I'm interested in _results_. Go and make _something_ happen."

Heidegger rubbed at his jaw in disbelief for a moment, still half-sitting on the floor, before remembering himself and where he was. He stumbled to his feet, straightened his uniform jacket, began with a nod that awkwardly transformed into a low bow, and scurried off out of the room, slamming the oaken doors behind him. Predictably, within ten seconds of the office door closing, he heard Heidegger's bellows of anger, taking out his inferiority on some lowly worker who had happened by.

"Subtle… sneaky… this is an odd combination for you, Sephiroth," he said aloud to himself, turning to the large window overlooking the port of Junon, rubbing at his knuckles. "If the records are to be believed, you're much more direct than this. So what are you playing at?"

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"You!" the SOLDIER shouted, his deep bassy voice reverberating down the street. "This area is off limits! Identify yourselves, now!"

Cloud glanced back at the others. "We're made, move it!" All seven dashed out from cover, running as fast as they could across the open space. Cloud skidded to a stop halfway across the street, holding his Buster Sword horizontally as a barrier against any stray shots, but none came. As the others reached the next building, he turned and ran after them. He was scarcely ten meters down the path before the SOLDIER had rounded the corner. Cloud turned and stopped again at the entrance to a large empty yard between several houses, holding out his blade in challenge, but the SOLDIER ignored him, gesturing with one hand. A second later, a tremor struck beneath the feet of the other six, the Quake spell knocking them all to the ground.

"_Ranma Saotome_!" the SOLDIER bellowed, shifting the giant plate off of his back. Cloud stared the man down, but he appeared unfazed. Ranma hopped to her feet and helped the others up. "It appears that you all survived your encounter with First Class Lars," he commented, giving a genuine-looking smile.

Ranma stepped over to Cloud's side. "He wants me, he can have me," she muttered to the blond. "When I go in, go with the others, get them somewhere safe."

Cloud tilted his eyes down to the redhead. "You sure about that?"

"No, but if he calls for help, in _this_ town, we're _all_ screwed." Ranma answered in a low tone. "I'll decoy for ya. Keep them safe. Get to the docks if you can, I'll catch up. If Aerith argues with it, tell her I said 'glow stick,' she'll understand." Cloud gave a slight nod in acknowledgement, but didn't move. Ranma turned back to the giant. "Who the hell're you s'posed ta be, anyway?"

The SOLDIER gave an amicable smile in response. "You can call me Amon the Wall, if you must call me anything," he responded lightly, setting the enormous slab of metal down to one side, leaning it against the brick wall that formed the alley. "I take it you wish to make a mess of this city? Or have you decided to surrender yourself to my custody?"

Ranma rolled her shoulders, dropping into a low stance. "Neither, thought I'd just kick your ass instead." And she darted forward, landing a sharp kick against the man's knee, turning the momentum of the attack into a flip-kick that connected with his chin. Cloud took the cue, and dashed back to the others, pushing them down the alley and out of sight as they rounded the corner to the right. As Ranma landed, Amon lowered one arm in a sweeping right hook that managed to clip nothing but air. Ranma ducked beneath the next long, sweeping punch and countered with a flurry of blows to the midsection. "You're makin' this way too easy, SOLDIER boy," she commented, another hammer-blow snaking through what accounted for the man's guard and turning his face sideways for a moment.

"Indeed?" he replied, his deep tone still disarmingly light. "Well, then." In an instant, Amon's body posture changed. As if flipping a switch, his stance went from 'man trying to swat lazily at a fly' to 'seasoned fighter', and with it his expression went from 'casually interested' to 'lethally focused'. He stepped forward, and Ranma was surprised to see the man almost vanish from her sight with his speed. She managed a quick inhale, and _blurred_ just in time to see Amon's fist hurtling towards her in a brutal uppercut, clearly intending to end the fight in a single blow. Far too late to dodge, she instead raised both arms into the path of the attack, pushing off of the ground with both feet just as the blow connected, sending her flying down the alley in the direction her friends had gone.

_Of_ course_ he was holding back!_ Ranma berated herself, twisting her body in midair to reorient herself for a better landing. _He's a SOLDIER, not a Furinkan athletics club member. Well, I nearly got suckered by that one, but you only get one chance to catch _me _off guard!_

Amon came charging after her in the blink of an eye. By the time her feet touched down on the pavement, he was already on her other side, briefly doing little more than shoving her hard in the opposite direction, but Ranma realized that the move was simply to make sure she didn't run for it. "You still believe you have my full measure, then?" he taunted as he advanced, arms moving like pistons in precise, calculated blows.

Ranma snorted out a laugh as she evaded a right hook that followed with a spinning kick at hip height, which she barely leaped over. The SOLDIER's speed was nothing short of astonishing, but she still felt as if she had the upper hand with her aerial agility. "Buddy, you'd need a good tailor and a ladder to get your _full_ measure," she quipped with a grin, waiting for a solid opening to present itself, "but, yeah, I still don't think you're any match for me."

"You're here to do the same thing you did in Midgar, and that means I'm here to stop you." He strode forward again, his fists striking out in rapid succession, giving no refuge from his assault.

"In _Midgar_?" Ranma demanded, swaying back from two lightning-fast jabs, and catching a hard straight with one hand, turning the attack's momentum into a throw, sending the huge man flying face first into the wall of a building. "You jerks abducted my friend, tried to do the same to me, sicced some freaky experiment on us, threw me in prison, and have done nothing but do your damndest to kill me for the last three weeks! You wanna talk to me about _that_?"

"Don't you _dare_ talk to me about anything done to you," Amon snarled, leveling a spinning side kick at Ranma, which managed to clip her in the side, sending her tumbling to the asphalt. Amon pressed the assault as Ranma pushed herself to her feet, the redhead narrowly sliding out of the way of an overhead chop. "Not after you ended the lives of thousands of ordinary citizens. The lives of _every soul_ in Sector 7 is on your head. You gave up your right to bitch about anything after that."

Ranma let out a growl of disappointment as she evaded another heavy straight. "Get real!" she shouted, her own fist meeting the inside of Amon's elbow, turning the blow aside as she performed a spinning aerial kick, pushing off with both feet, knocking the SOLDIER back a few meters and giving her precious breathing space. "That was your damn Turks! We did everything we could to stop 'em takin' the plate down on top of our heads and everyone else's in the slums!"

"Bullshit," Amon retorted in a caustic tone, leveling one finger at the girl. "I've seen footage of your little technique, the one that turns reinforced walls into empty air. Wouldn't be hard to collapse the pillar with somethin' that destructive, now would it?"

Ranma stopped short, realizing exactly what she was being accused of. "You really believe I did that," she stated in shock, her arms falling to her sides for a moment. "Shinra just told you I brought down the plate, and you _bought_ that?"

Amon ignored her emotional turmoil and advanced again, taking advantage of the redhead's lowered guard, renewing his offensive with a rapid flurry of jabs and swift kicks. Several hard blows connected, knocking Ranma aside before she renewed her defensive stance, but Amon's assault continued regardless, doing his level best to penetrate the girl's guard. "I joined SOLDIER to _help_ people!" he shouted as he connected with an air-tearing left hook. "To keep them safe from people like _you_! Setting off bombs, blowing up reactors, turning homes into rubble, destroying _everything_ that regular folks build with their own two hands? That ain't right!"

Ranma did her best to counter the vicious onslaught, but the tide of the fight had turned and it was clearly an uphill battle at the moment. The SOLDIER fought with brutal, mechanical precision, and each blow she landed against him seemed to do nothing. "The hell are you even made of, anyway?" she muttered to herself. She leaped backwards, evading a spinning elbow that would have struck her in the head. She stood her ground as he charged, and inhaled sharply. "_Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken_!" she shouted, both arms moving in a nearly invisible blur, raining dozens, hundreds of blows against the giant of a man. Amon managed to raise his arms, but not in time to stop the hailstorm of strikes. Despite the sheer number and ferocity of attacks colliding with Amon, Ranma might as well have been batting at him with a feather duster for all the apparent damage he seemed to be taking.

And then she saw it.

As each blow landed, there was a momentary flash of something just over top his skin. A second skin, metallic in tone, which appeared in a honeycomb pattern anywhere her strikes made contact. Whatever it was, it seemed to be absorbing most of the force of her attacks, leaving little to actually connect with Amon directly. "Hah, no wonder this fight wasn't goin' anywhere," Ranma remarked, giving the SOLDIER a once-over glance. "The hell is that, anyway?"

Amon grinned. "I'm called 'the Wall' for a reason," he boasted, closing the gap between himself and Ranma. "I _stand_ between the people and the _monsters_." He punctuated this statement with a fierce backhanded punch that Ranma barely blocked, the force of the blow still causing her to skid for a few meters along the asphalt. "I _protect_ the citizens from the _lawless_," he continued, thumping that same fist against his own chest in boast. "And I..." he raised his voice as he snatched the giant metal plate he had left leaning against the brickwork, raising it up between himself and Ranma, "..._never_..." he reached into what Ranma now realized was a massive tower shield and pulled on something, withdrawing an enormous metallic club from inside the shield, swinging it down in a deceptively fast strike, "...**_fall__!_**" he concluded with a shout, the mace smashing into the asphalt where Ranma had been, shattering it into pieces.

Ranma grimaced as she landed a few meters away. "Great, another Ryoga," she muttered, squaring her stance and pulling her arms close. "Well, then, good thing I know how to tear down a Wall." She took a deep breath and faced the SOLDIER as he began charging towards her, the weight of the shield and mace slowing him from unbelievable to merely blistering. It was enough though. She took aim and threw out her arms with a shout of "_Yama-Sen Ken: Kijin Raishū Dan_!"

Amon pulled his shield forward as the air in front of him bent and warped, his enhanced eyesight seeing the individual blades of pressurized air flew towards him. The bottom lip of the shield slammed down and dug into the asphalt. Amon pressed his shoulder forward, bracing firmly against the shield. A fraction of a second later, the first blades impacted against the shield. The sound was deafening, sounding something like a length of heavy chain impacting repeatedly against a cloister bell. The asphalt and concrete around Amon scored and lifted away slightly, the brick walls on either side of the alley carved deeply by the pressurized air.

After several seconds, Ranma dropped her arms to her sides, staring in disbelief. Amon's shield bore a handful of shallow scrapes, but appeared no worse for wear. "You gotta be kidding me," she muttered, taking a deep breath and pulling her arms up in a defensive posture in case Amon decided to attack. "The hell is that thing made out of, anyway?"

The shield shifted slowly, lifting up from the heavily-damaged street. "I have to admit, woman," Amon remarked, a smile in his voice as he pulled the shield back to his side, holding the mace ready in his other hand, "that's one _dangerous_ ability you've got there. Something like _that_ might turn a pillar support tower into noodles," he added meaningfully.

Ranma let out a sigh, keeping her stance firm. "Fine, you're dead set on blamin' me for the pillar, and I can't change your mind about it," she answered in a low tone. "But you better know that I've been holdin' back, and I think you're still doin' the same. I don't want to hurt anyone if I can avoid it. And I can tell if both of us went all out, we'd be standin' in a flaming crater right now."

"You want me to believe _you're_ protecting these people?" Amon called out in a mocking tone, leveling his mace at her. "Don't try to spin that story here. I know your type. Only one you're trying to protect is _you_."

"Buddy, you couldn't be more wrong." Ranma started mentally cataloguing her bag of tricks, thinking about the best option to deal with Amon and his apparently indestructible shield. Before she could do more than consider setting up for a full-powered version of the _Kijin Raishū Dan_ at point-blank range, a small egg-shaped object landed near her feet. Eyes widening in alarm, she turned and made it to the corner of the building, diving for cover as the grenade went off.

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"Excuse me, Mr. President?"

Rufus turned from the window and met the helmeted gaze of a man wearing the uniform of a Second Class SOLDIER, along with a heavy helmet which obscured part of the man's face. "Yes, what is it?"

The SOLDIER cleared his throat. "We've just received a report that First Class Amon has engaged an enemy inside the city."

"Sephiroth?" Rufus demanded, reaching for the telephone on the desk.

"No sir," came the reply, the SOLDIER remaining at attention. "It appears to be the remnants of AVALANCHE which escaped from Midgar late last week."

The young president's brow furrowed at the news, his hand paused just over the handset. "Where in the city?" As the words left his mouth, there was an explosion somewhere below and to the left of the large window. The SOLDIER appeared to be about to respond to the question, but Rufus waved him off. "Never mind, I believe I can discover that for myself."

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"Lars, _what_ the _hell_ are you _doing_?" Amon demanded, shifting the tower shield out of the way now that the blast had dissipated.

First Class Lars now stood between Amon and Ranma, a twisted look upon his face. "Sorry, but I called dibs on the ants," he sneered, holding another explosive device at the ready.

Amon shook his head. "_Not_ here," he pointed with the metal club to the grenade Lars had prepared. "_Not_ like this. Too many civilians. You _know_ the rules, Lars."

"And you know I ain't ever been good with _rules_," Lars gave a mocking grin before pointing in Ranma's direction. "They're here in the city with her, and I'm gonna do what it takes to stomp the little shits." Amon stared in the direction of his pointing hand in silence. After a moment or two, Lars turned and faced that direction as well. "What the hell?" Where Ranma once stood, there was now a startling absence of anything Ranma-shaped, or in fact of anyone at all.

Ranma continued to move silently past under the cloak of the _Umi-Sen Ken_, keeping her motions smooth and even, her emotions held carefully in check. Performing the technique under ideal circumstances was difficult enough. Pulling it off in the heat of battle was a feat even she historically had a mixed track record with.

"You..." Amon accused, his eyes narrowing. "You allowed the target to escape. I had her right here! What the fuck is wrong with you?"

Ranma wasn't too keen on using the cloak to run away from a fight like this, but despite her misgivings, she realized that there were times when one needed to employ the Saotome Secret Technique. Fighting against even one SOLDIER had given her a lot to chew on, especially with that shield of his being strong enough to stand up to the _Kijin Raishū Dan_ without a significant mark. She needed to get some distance, regroup, and come up with a plan-

Lars snorted in derision. "Oh, get over yourself, Amon," he called back. "All we gotta do is round up the girl's friends and wait for her to show up. They're bound to be here too. Maybe I can get in a session with the beatdown buddy while we wait."

_Like hell you will,_ Ranma thought, her temper flaring briefly, before she managed to regain control of herself. _Not lettin' someone like you anywhere near them again if I can help it._

"Or maybe that mousy brown-haired girl with the stick can keep me _occupied_," Lars continued with a laugh.

Ranma stopped, her cool restraint and measured self-control replaced with cold, calculated rage, as she considered for a moment all the various methods she could employ to shove Lars' arms up his own ass. Unfortunately, this was more than enough to cause the cloak to waver and fall, leaving her clearly outlined against the mouth of the alleyway. Amon turned away from Lars in disgust, running the back of his hand across his forehead, clearing a few droplets of sweat from his brow. "You're _sick_, Lars," he muttered, facing the end of the alley. "They _never_ should have let someone like you into SOLDIER, let alone _promoted_-" he stopped as he finally processed the silhouette of the redhead at the end of the path between the buildings. Ranma glanced back at them, her eyes wide as she took in their reactions. "There!" And Amon took off after her, followed closely by Lars.

Ranma didn't bother to think about it. She turned out of the alley to the left and ran. "Dammit, Lars!" she heard the behemoth of a man shout as she sprinted down the side street. A second later, another explosion detonated where she had been standing, the bulk of the blast absorbed with a resounding gong as Amon's enormous shield pressed down upon the grenade.

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"Lars, I swear on the Goddess, if you don't put those damn explosives of yours away _this second_-"

Lars growled in response, but pocketed the two grenades he'd pulled out. "Yes, _mother_," he drawled in a mocking tone, reaching for one of the sabers strapped to his back as they rounded the corner out of the last side street, and onto Upper Main Street.

Upper Main was currently loaded with the tail-end of the early rush hour. A few cars were still on the road, and large groups of pedestrians had already begun lining the sidewalks in preparation for the parade. Shinra had apparently combined their efforts, using Rufus' inauguration as an opportunity to put their military might on display, thus emptying the majority of the households in Junon under pretense of viewing the parade, but primarily to be searched for signs of Sephiroth. As a result, nearly all of Junon's considerable armed forces were on alert in some capacity.

The upshot of all of this was that, despite being in plain view of nearly all of Junon's citizenry, Ranma's slimmer frame was able to weave in and out of the dense crowds. Her reduced height kept her out of line of sight for the MPs and patrolmen cordoning off the street in preparation for the parade. The two bulky, heavily armed SOLDIERS, on the other hand, were having a slower time of it, having to sidle and squeeze between the throngs of people to avoid knocking them all to the pavement, and were rapidly losing ground to the redhead.

"Man, fuck this, Amon," Lars shouted over the crowd, and reached towards one of his belt pouches with his free hand.

Amon turned briefly and glared at him, the intensity of the stare causing Lars to halt his hand a few centimeters away from the pouch. Amon turned again towards the chase. "Lars, you reach for your bombs again while we're in this crowd and I _promise_ you, that hand will never reach for anything ever again." His eyes scanned the crowd, and spotted the redhead in the red tunic again as she disappeared into an open door at the end of the street. "She just went into the airstrip entrance, come on!"

"Ha!" Lars cackled as they pressed through the last of the crowds. "She'll be trapped in there. The only ways out are down the loading elevator to the city guard post, or up to the airstrip. She's got nowhere left to run!"

The two of them approached the entryway, Amon slowing to a walk and shouldering his shield. "Wait," Amon said, grabbing Lars by the shoulder, before he peeked into the entry hall to the airstrip's guardpost. "You stand watch here, make sure she doesn't double back somehow."

Lars grinned and gave a nod of his head, and took a step in, drawing his second saber as he slid into the corner of the L-bend in the hallway. Amon stepped past him and peeked first into the checkpoint guard station, which was key-locked as per regulations. Two troopers wearing the blues of the Shinra regulars stood behind the reinforced plate glass, observing the hall and monitoring the security devices. He gave an eyes-open hand signal through the glass, and received a pair of sharp salutes in response. Continuing to the end of the hall, he opened the heavy hatch to the service lift, which was still at the raised position, with no sign it had been used in a few hours. Turning one ear towards the darkness below gave no indication of anything beyond the insistent whistle of airflow down the several-hundred-meter shaft. He doubled past again and peeked into the locker room. Empty, except for someone in the shower. "Not fooling us that easy, Miss Saotome," he muttered, ducking through the doorframe. Amon took a few silent steps forward, reached out, and pulled aside the privacy screen-

-revealing a young teenage boy with platinum blond hair and a tattoo in the shape of a barcode on his wrist. "Sir!" the boy snapped to attention with a salute, despite his nudity.

Amon shook his head, returning the salute after a moment's hesitation. "Looking for an intruder," he said quietly. "As you were." The fresh-faced boy saluted again, and Amon closed the shower screen, tugging open the lockers, finding nothing but uniforms and body odor. He walked back out to the hall, and turned left out of the checkpoint to the airfield. Four airmen in bright orange vests and hats stood watch near the entrance, two more at the cargo lift to operate it. He turned to the nearest airman. "Has a woman come this way?" he asked, holding up one hand to approximately Ranma's height. "About yea tall, red hair, red shirt, black pants?"

The airman shook his head. "No, sir," he replied evenly. "Been on watch since the Highwind was reported damaged. Not a soul's been through here aside from the repair crews, but the last of them came in over an hour ago and they're still on board."

Amon glanced around suspiciously, peering into the shadows below the constructed airstrip. Six men couldn't all be lying, and they couldn't all be this girl he was chasing. "Very well, resume your duties," he responded, turning back into the checkpoint hallway. "Tell me she's cowering in the corner over there behind you," he said to Lars.

Lars shrugged. "So now _you_ lost her too," he commented with a snide chuckle. "Don't _that_ suck."

Amon glowered at the unruly SOLDIER, striding forward purposefully and grabbing him by the braces of his leather girdle, hauling him upwards and against the metal wall with a thud. "_You_ interfered in the apprehension of a fugitive from justice, Lars," he berated his comrade-in-arms. "Everything from that moment on is a result of your actions, including this, and will be so noted in my report to Director Heidegger and the President. I _suggest_ you depart Junon at your earliest opportunity," he warned, his voice ringing with menace. "I will not see these people harmed by _another_ of your stray devices." Lars remained silent, pinned to the wall a half a meter off the ground. After a moment, Amon released him, letting the man drop to the ground. "I have duties to attend to, I trust you can see yourself out?"

Lars didn't respond as Amon turned and left the hallway. He stared after the dark-skinned man and waited for him to be well out of sight before muttering to himself, "No sense of fun, that one." He glanced about, still seeing nothing worth his attention in the checkpoint area, and turned towards the exit. "Fuck this place, I'm gettin' a drink."

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The shaft holding the freight elevator continued its soft howl as the cooler air descended to the bottom of the mountain, just as it had for several minutes. Ranma clutched at the underside of the lift platform, spread-eagle and suspended between the steel girders that provided structural support to the platform, waiting until she was certain the SOLDIERs had either broken off their search or taken it elsewhere. She'd been waiting nearly ten minutes, and after a brief reach-out with her senses, no longer felt the chaotic chi she'd grown to associate with SOLDIER-types.

She cautiously flipped herself up from the underside of the platform, careful not to make any loud noises, and returned to the hallway, ducking beneath the checkpoint window and sidling past the single camera in the corner. It was then that she heard the sound of a shower. She peeked into the trooper locker room, and saw the silhouette of a man behind a privacy screen, and a second shower next to it, open and unoccupied. "Finally," she muttered. "Been waitin' to change back all morning."

As she approached the shower, she noticed a number of Shinra trooper uniforms hanging in the lockers outside the showers. She stared at it for a long moment, considering her options.

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"Goddess, I still can't believe he said 'glow stick' to Cloud to win that argument," Aerith muttered, leaning against the alcove wall, one hand fiddling with her staff nervously. The six of them were less than two hundred meters away from the entrance to the wharf, currently taking refuge in an overlooked alley between two storehouses facing the wharf. Cloud was looking out between a towering stack of crates blocking one end of the alley; Barret had taken up guard at the back of the alley, watching their backs carefully in case a patrol decided to be thorough. The three girls and Red were keeping themselves in cover in an alcove in the alleyway created by the parallel support pillars that edged out from the sides of the storehouses.

Tifa glanced at the brunette, adjusting the coiled leather thong that held her hair in place behind her. "What's it mean?"

Aerith opened her mouth, paused, and closed it again, considering her words carefully. "It's... one of his chi things," she explained after a moment. "Apparently I'm easy to find that way."

Tifa nodded her understanding, turning to Cloud. "So, we wait for Ranma to find us, then?" she elaborated.

"That's the plan," Cloud confirmed, peeking between the stacks of crates at the civilian cargo vessel that Shinra had apparently commandeered out of the wharf. "We find a ship that's going anywhere but here, and we get on board as quietly as we can."

Barret turned his head to peer back at the others. "Not gonna try ta find Sephiroth here?"

Cloud shook his head. _Ranma was right,_ he thought. "Too dangerous now," he answered aloud, his tone frank. "I know that's why we came here to begin with, but that was before we knew the city was at this high level of alert. And with that First on our trail, it'd only be a matter of time." He turned and paced back towards the others. "We stay here longer than we have to, either he'll run us down, or he'll call in support and everyone will run us down. We get the hell out of here, we regroup wherever we end up, and we make new plans there."

Yuffie looked up at Cloud as he passed. "Cut and run?"

"Not without Ranma," Aerith maintained, gripping her staff more firmly as she said it.

"We know," Tifa reassured her, resting one gloved hand over the other girl's shoulder in acknowledgement. "We stay together. Especially after Ranma kept that SOLDIER off our backs. He sure is brave..."

Yuffie snorted. "You call it brave, I say stupid."

Tifa turned to face the young ninja. "I don't suppose you had a better plan?" she asked. "Ranma's out there risking his life for us, and-"

"No, he's not," a muffled voice joined in from the end of the alleyway.

A figure stood there at the mouth of the alley, dressed in full Shinra trooper gear, helmet covering the man's face. One hand rested on the SMG hanging from a strap over one shoulder. The party reacted quickly to the sudden presence, but Barret was the closest, and managed to grab the trooper by the neck, lifting him bodily and slamming him hard against the solid concrete wall of the warehouse. "Ya know something, Shinra dog," Barret growled, brandishing his gun-arm meaningfully, "ya better spill it."

The trooper struggled with Barret's grip briefly, the SMG clattering to the ground beside them both. "'s me," the voice beneath the helmet croaked out, slapping weakly at Barret's wrist. "'m Ran...ma!"

The others lowered their weapons slowly, and Barret relaxed his grip slightly, keeping the trooper pinned to the wall but no longer cutting off his air supply. "...Ranma?" Aerith said quietly, taking a step forward and reaching for the straps that secured the helmet to his head. Unbuckling them, she pulled the helmet free, revealing Ranma's dark-haired male half underneath.

Barret went wide-eyed and released Ranma immediately, the boy dropping to the ground, as the larger man shook his hand loose at one side. "Sorry, shrimp," he said in an apologetic tone, as Ranma took a few deep breaths. "Didn't realize it was you."

Ranma waved him off. "It's okay," he replied between coughs. "Didn't realize how much those face-masks of theirs muffled the voice."

Cloud looked Ranma over, as he unzipped the blue jacket, showing off his familiar Chinese-style red tunic beneath. "You defeated the SOLDIER?" he asked, a note of incredulity in his inquiry.

Ranma snorted, glancing away for a moment. "Nah, he had something... I dunno what, but it was like a second skin that ate up the force from my blows," he explained, gesturing over his own body as if to demonstrate the effect. "Couldn't really make anything stick. Then that asshole from the mountain pass showed up too, and that was when I called quittin' time."

Red gave a huff from below. "Good to know you are, in fact, still human."

"Hey, I might be able to hold off one SOLDIER," Ranma insisted, leaning against the alley wall. "Or at least make a good showin' of myself. Two... not so much, I guess, 'specially when one of them's chuckin' bombs at me. Took off runnin', gave them both the slip near the airport. Found a guard's locker room, grabbed a hot shower, and stole one of their uniforms so I could get through the city without bein' spotted again. Worked a bit too well, almost got roped into some kind of parade-ground send-off for Rufus."

Red looked up at Ranma again. "No offense, Ranma, but your demonstrated social skills do not lead me to believe that you possess very much guile," he commented wryly. "So how did you manage to talk your way out of that?"

Ranma gave the wolf a grin in return. "Yeah, you'd be right, I ain't a great liar," he said softly, "but I overheard some of the other troopers talkin' about how Shinra's loading a bunch of stuff onto a coupla boats to get themselves overseas. When one of their sergeants tried to pull me into the parade line, I told him I'd been ordered down to the wharf to help load the ship by Heidegger."

Barret gave Ranma an appraising look. "You told'em you were on orders from Heidegger?" he raised an eyebrow with his inquiry, before his lips curled up in a reluctant smile. "You got big brass ones, kid."

Cloud blinked at the young man in silence for the moment. "Heidegger has a record of ignoring chain of command, and taking out his anger on random passers-by, so you probably managed to tell the most believable lie there you could have done." Ranma gave a smile in response. "Don't suppose you found out where they're going with all those crates?"

Ranma shook his head. "No idea," he admitted, running one hand over his hair. "Didn't think I could get away askin' without sounding suspicious."

The blond gave a nod of understanding. "All right, give me a minute, I need to figure this out," he said, and paced back over to the gap between the crates.

Yuffie had been staring at Ranma doubtfully the entire time he had been talking. "So... if you can do all that, whyja get grabbed?"

"Huh?" Ranma asked, perplexed.

"Whyja let Barret grab ya just now?" she repeated. "You coulda _broken_ his arm, you coulda _ducked_ his arm, you coulda-"

"-coulda done a buncha stuff that'd make a hell of a lot of noise and get us discovered," Ranma finished, dusting himself off and returning Yuffie's pointed gaze. "Lemme know when you have a different end to that sentence." Yuffie lowered her eyes, but didn't respond. Ranma turned back to Barret, and gave a smile. "Gotta hand it to ya though, Barret, you got one hell of a grip."

Barret grinned back. Aerith took a step forward and threw her arms around Ranma's neck, embracing him warmly. "I'm so glad you're safe, Ranma." She looked into his eyes, saw his wide-eyed surprise, and then realized exactly where they were and what she had done. "Oh!" she gasped, pulling her arms back to her side with a slight blush, and turned away. "Uh... sorry, sensei, I... I was worried about you."

Ranma had the good grace to look embarrassed. "I... uh..." he muttered. "I'm okay, yeah. Wanted to make sure you stayed safe- all of you... stayed safe..." He took a moment, regained his composure, and looked around. "You guys picked one hell of a hidey-hole, I probably never woulda found it if it hadn't been for Aerith's chi."

Tifa watched the two of them for a moment, then turned to Cloud. "So, what do you think?"

Cloud shrugged. "You know me, Tifa, I don't usually bother to talk about other people's relationships."

Tifa shook her head. "I know that, I mean about us getting out of here."

Cloud nodded, peeking back out the gap in the crates for a moment. "Well, as insane as it sounds, I think us getting on that ship Shinra is loading is probably our best option," he said quietly, shifting his weight slightly from one foot to the other to change his viewpoint through the gap in the shipping containers.

"Wait, you want to do _what_?" Tifa protested, coming to Cloud's side and looking him in the eyes.

Cloud held up a hand to forestall her questions. "We know they're leaving soon. If we manage to get aboard, we can get out of here without the SOLDIERs knowing we've left. They'll sit here and comb the city for days looking for us. By that time, we'll be anywhere other than here, and we'll have a good lead on them," he continued, counting off his talking points on one hand. "Besides which, think about it, even if Shinra knew we were on a boat out of Junon, why would they expect us to hop on board the same boat they were using? We'd be able to hide in plain sight, they'd never search for us there."

Tifa stared, jaw hanging open, as Cloud's words sat in the air between them. After a moment, she recovered her senses and ran one hand across her face. "This is, without a doubt, the _second-_dumbest idea I've heard come out of your mouth, that still has a good chance of succeeding."

Cloud turned to face Tifa. "What was the first-dumbest idea?"

"You, joining SOLDIER," she teased. Cloud paused for a moment, then let out a little huff of breath. It was the closest Tifa had seen him to a genuine laugh in some time. "All right, then, what's the plan?" she asked.

Cloud leaned against the wall, cupping his chin in thought. "I could pass for a SOLDIER pretty easily, but that'd raise too many questions and draw way too much attention down here at the wharf." He glanced around at the others, his eyes lingering on each of them in turn for a second or two, sizing them all up. "Ranma's already dressed for the part. We're going to need some more uniforms. We'll work out what we're saying once we know who'll fit into what. And Ranma?"

"Yeah?" the boy responded, standing in a close approximation of 'at ease'.

Cloud smirked at Ranma's natural talent for mimicry. "Need to teach you how to salute properly."

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The Junon wharf was one of the busiest places on all of Gaia, and it was not shy about it either. Dockhands went to and fro, securing and releasing mooring lines and guiding cargo nets down to the unloading areas. Freight trucks moved in organized chaos, merging into the flow of traffic without so much as a second's hesitation, but not obviously paying attention to the existence of vehicles behind or ahead of them. Dozens of vessels were lined up and hurriedly accepting or disgorging their shipments to make way for the dozens more in the harbor and beyond. The sound was akin to a rapidly modulating The entrance to the wharf had an inspection post and a pair of gates, one for vehicles, and the other for foot traffic.

The seven of them approached the pedestrian gate, dressed in their stolen uniforms. Ranma stepped forward, helmet obscuring his face, and snapped out a smart-looking salute. "Sir, requesting entry, sir!"

The guard looked up sleepily at them from a clipboard. Four troopers, privates all of them from the lack of decoration, escorting three sailors. One of the sailors was being held up by the other two, and frankly looked drunker than he'd ever seen anyone be in his life. A large sailor's hat had been pulled down over the drunken sailor's face. "Reason for entry?"

"Sir, returning AWOL party for review, sir!"

"Knock it off with that 'sir' crap, I'm only a corporal," the guard reprimanded, flicking the bars on his collar. "Who ordered the review?"

"Sir, we were ordered to bring these three in by Heidegger himself," Ranma barked out. "And sorry if the 'sir' bothers you, just protocol. Sir."

The corporal gave Ranma a Look. "...you're new here, aren'cha?"

"Yes, sir, don't want them to toss me out before I get the shine off the buttons, if ya know what I mean," Ranma replied.

The guard looked them over. The big one in the sailor outfit looked like a mean sort, the kind that'd drink you drunk on the good days and knock you flat on the bad ones. The short one, on the other hand, looked like he'd wait for someone _else_ to drink you drunk, then fleece your wallet while you lay unconscious under the table. It wasn't hard to imagine either of them doing something to get into trouble, but even with everything going on in town it was pretty impressive to imagine something bad enough to demand Heidegger's personal attention. On the other hand, questioning the necessity of something requiring Heidegger's personal attention was the kind of thing that was likely to get you in Heidegger's personal attention, so...

"Granted," the guard said simply, scribbling something on his clipboard. "Get them outta here. If Heidegger's lookin' for someone to be his punchin' bag, then I don't want the hammer comin' down anywhere near me."

"Yes sir," Ranma answered as the guard pulled a switch nearby, opening the main gate. They passed through, carrying the limp form of Red between them, and continued until the cargo vessel's entrance stood before them. Timing their entry to be as isolated as possible, they managed to work their way into a corner of the ship and took refuge behind a tall stack of crates. "Cloud… I can't believe that worked, but I'm glad it did."

"So am I," Red said from between Barret and Yuffie. "Now please put me down." They helped him down, and Red made a significant show of stretching his limbs out as he slipped down to all fours again, the sailor suit on him still looking somewhat ridiculous. "I swear, the number of plans you all come up with that involve me being carried by the rest of you is truly absurd."

"Don't get too used to it," Cloud said quietly, standing at the entrance keeping one eye out for anyone passing by as they waited for Red to recover. "We'll have to wait until the ship gets underway to keep up the ruse. After that, you can switch uniforms with Aerith."

"Hey, coulda been worse," Yuffie grumbled, fidgeting with the collar of her shirt. "These things are itchy. Do sailors never bathe?"

"If they're anything like in my world," Ranma piped up, "probably not."

Yuffie snorted. "Not makin' me feel better about puttin' this thing on."

"Ssshh," Cloud urged them. He snapped a salute as two troopers walked by on patrol. Fortunately, they continued on. Cloud turned back to the others. "We get aboard the ship, we get Red situated, then the rest of us pull duty loading the ship. Red, I'm going to ask you to keep an eye on any nosy guards as best you can. The rest of us pair off and keep each other in check. Barret, you're with me. Tifa, stick with Aerith. Ranma, keep an eye on Yuffie. Keep your heads down and stay quiet." The others nodded their understanding. "Stowaways aren't exactly welcome on civilian ships, but unofficially, most crews will look the other way if you help out at the docks."

"Helps to grease some palms," Yuffie added.

"That too." Cloud glanced around again, but the way was clear. "Anyone starts poking around in an official capacity, we're new recruits, we haven't been assigned a superior yet, and we've been ordered to help load whatever Shinra's got in the crates. That ought to keep us busy and out of anyone's hair. Oh, and before I forget, Ranma?"

"Yeah?" Ranma asked.

"I know you say the curse attracts water," he continued. "Try to stay below decks, and don't start any fights you can't finish without punching holes in the boat."

Ranma swallowed as he took in Cloud's meaning, and nodded, pulling off a sharp-looking salute. "Aye, sir."

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"Heidegger."

The commander turned sharply at the calm but deadly tone, and saw Rufus approaching from the entrance of the docks, a small folder held in one hand. He fired off a quick but smart salute, and signaled the troops to prepare for their send-off routine. "Sir, I've commandeered two cargo vessels from the civilian docks. The troops are loading them up as we speak." Rufus stood before the larger man, but did not respond. "Amon has reported in-"

"Ah," Rufus interrupted, taking a step forward. "That was, in fact, the topic that brought me here. Tell me, do you know why Amon was unable to supervise the loading of the second vessel himself?"

"Er," Heidegger hesitated for a moment, his eyes flicking back and forth between the troops and Rufus, before letting out a nervous laugh. "Gyeh-heh… I believe he was dealing with some minor issue in Upper Junon. In the meantime, Sergeant Willard has prepared a small but adequate military departure for you-"

Rufus cast his eyes up at Heidegger, then turned to the assembled troops. "Sergeant, you and your men are dismissed," he declared calmly. "Please see to the loading of the vessel, and then attend to your assigned duties from there."

"Sir!" the red-clad sergeant replied with a salute, and motioned for his subordinates to follow.

As they passed out of earshot, Rufus turned to Heidegger. "I believe I made myself clear. What I am interested in is results, Heidegger. Putting on a parade is not 'results'. Diverting military manpower to practice a color guard routine is not 'results'. AVALANCHE is here in Junon, Heidegger. And Ranma Saotome is with them." He grabbed Heidegger by the collar of his shirt and pulled him roughly to one side, sending the larger man stumbling into a nearby wall. "And you are out here wasting everyone's time with this shit."

"But-" Heidegger hesitated, taking a moment to regain his feet and his breath. "Sir, Amon has _always_ been a bit of an alarmist-"

"Fourteen," Rufus countered, interrupting Heidegger again. He held up the folder, pulling out a thick stack of official-looking papers and shaking them through the air. "_Fourteen_ individual reports confirming the presence of members of AVALANCHE inside Junon, not counting Amon's initial contact, corroborated by security cameras and two other SOLDIERs. You ignored every single one of these. Why?"

"Because of Sephiroth, sir!" Heidegger blurted out.

Rufus paused. His cold gaze met Heidegger's eyes, and the larger man flinched slightly. "What about Sephiroth?"

Heidegger took a deep breath, and straightened his jacket before answering. "My intelligence network has reported that Sephiroth is no longer in Junon, and that he has boarded a vessel heading for the Western continent. I came down here to the docks to speak to the agent myself and confirm." He withdrew a few sheets of neatly-folded paper from one pocket and passed them to Rufus, who unfolded it immediately. "Some of the agents are a little paranoid, they don't trust the PHS network. I had to come down to the docks to confirm it in person. I'd planned to mention this during the sendoff, but…"

Rufus scanned over the intelligence report, which had two photos attached. The first, rather fuzzy, image held the unmistakable profile of Sephiroth, standing in the middle of the deserted civilian docks with a timestamp which marked it as well before dawn. The second image was of a medium-sized private yacht bearing the name '_Manaclipper_.' Sephiroth's outline could be seen again, this time standing on the deck, descending into the lower cabin of the yacht. "This is four hours old," Rufus muttered, eyeing the timestamp. "What was the delay?"

"The agent attempted to communicate this prior to the vessel's departure this morning," Heidegger explained, "but a security door was triggered and he was locked in for over ninety minutes before the repair crew could free him. By the time he was out, the vessel had already left. The agent commandeered a radio station here at the docks and made several attempts to radio the _Manaclipper_ after it was out of port, but hasn't heard a single response from the crew." Heidegger took a step forward and pointed to the details on the third page. "Her captain lodged a voyage plan that sent it towards Mideel, but radio traffic picked up from two other vessels spotted her and both report that she was heading due west."

Rufus gave a smirk. "Costa Del Sol," he commented, looking over the projected route. "Can't imagine he wants a tan. Do we have any resources in that area?"

Heidegger shook his head, his beard swishing slightly through the air. "You already know the Costans wouldn't consent to a base after we took over… said it would spoil the beaches. Closest thing we have to Costa Del Sol's the Corel Reactor…" he paused in consideration, but shook his head again.. "Can't imagine there's anything there that'd interest him. Maybe Rocket Town?"

Rufus let that idea sit for a moment. "I can't think of what he might want from there… aside from if there's something hidden at the graveyard that we don't know about." He lifted his eyes to take in Heidegger again. "You've redeemed yourself, somewhat. No more parades, no more celebrations. We are on a mission, and it will be seen through."

Heidegger came to attention and snapped off a salute. "Understood, sir."

Rufus nodded. "See to the boats, and make sure the helicopter is ready on the deck before they shove off. When Amon arrives, have him take charge of the second vessel and head to the port south of Gongaga. I'm going to announce myself to the captain of the…" he turned and looked up at the faded letters on the side of the hull, his face screwing up in confusion, "...the '_Grace of Ifrit_?'"

Heidegger chuckled. "A bit of a sailor's joke, sir, or so I'm told," he offered, lifting his gaze to the same spot on the vessel's stern. "The cargo barges are hardy vessels, they can weather almost anything, but they're not known for speed and they don't turn very well."

"I think I can spot that one, now," Rufus gave a faint smile. "You have your orders, Heidegger. Make it happen." Heidegger gave a salute and marched off to the second vessel, as Rufus boarded the Grace of Ifrit. The trooper standing watch at the loading ramp snapped to attention as he approached, firing off a textbook salute. "As you were, trooper," Rufus said, passing by.

"Sir," Ranma Saotome replied from beneath his trooper disguise, his voice muffled by the face-covering helmet. He waited until the President of Shinra was out of earshot, and then mumbled to himself, "_Aw hell…_"

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**At a certain point in my writing, well after I was past this point, I decided that the original draft of this chapter was not going to accomplish what I needed it to. So I rewrote it, and moved on. And then I came back here about eight weeks ago, and looked at it again after I had finished the edits to chapters 28 and 29. And it still felt like it had missed the target by a long way. So I trashed it again, and started over once more. You're reading the third version of this chapter. It took a lot of effort to remove not one, but two prior versions of this chapter, over five thousand words each. Elements of both prior versions are still in here, but it's mostly unrecognizable from the previous iterations. And, critically, I think I finally have it this time. And even though I threw a lot of it on the trash heap, this version is *double* the length of either previous version, and is to date the longest single document I have ever written outside of a NaNoWriMo event.**

**I mention this because I know some of you reading this are writers too. Don't be afraid to be critical of your writing. You may write something down and weeks later look at it, and realize that it's brilliant but needs a bit of polish, or you may realize you've written something not very good. Salvage what you feel is important, and discard what doesn't work. I know sometimes it feels like those words are your babies, but honestly it's more like they're construction materials. Build with them. :)**

**Hope you like it! Feedback and comments, as always, are welcome.**


	31. Who We Are In The Dark

**I'd like to take a moment before we start the regular pre-chapter stuff to point out today's date (as of the release of this chapter), which is 18 October, 2020. This fic first sprang to life out of a half-remembered dream which I had on the first of October of last year. I spent a little under two days jotting down what I could remember, then storyboarding out from there in both directions for almost another week. Following that, I sat down and put fingers to the keys, churning out the fastest set of fifty thousand words I'd ever managed in my entire life, in a rough draft that I still have laying around somewhere for reference. And from that absolute marathon of early mornings, late nights, and long days between the two writing my heart out, this fanfic was born, revised, edited, and released to the public for the first time, one year ago today.**

**...holy carp you guys.**

**I honestly did not conceive that I'd still be working on this a year later. I've never stuck on a creative project this long, this consistently, or with this much drive. I'm really enjoying it so far, and I can't even begin to express how happy I am that you all are here with me, and that you are _still_ here with me. I don't know all of what's going to happen going forward in the real world, but I am going to do my absolute best to finish this thing. Like Barret says, there ain't no gettin' off this train. So whatever else happens, thank you for taking this trip with me so far, and I hope you keep going with me until the end of the line.**

**All right, enough sappy crap. On to the comments!  
Kariston Draconis: Not saying which of your ideas is right, but stop reading ahead in the rough draft file. :D Seriously, I'm actually wondering how so many of you are doing that.  
Death Of Snipers: SOLDIERs all having specialties is kind of me extrapolating from those few we've seen in the saga up to this point. Genesis is somewhere between red mage and magic knight with his spellcasting and putting spells into his sword. Angeal is like a fusion of paladin/monk and blue mage, able to copy others' techniques and his combat prowess. Even Roche in the Remake is unique in his presentation as a SOLDIER, doing battle as much with his sword as with his souped up motorcycle, so I feel this idea may play out in the revised canon as well. Major Motoko Kusanagi put it well, "Overspecialize, and you breed in weakness. It's slow death."  
WindbornesWord: Indiscriminate Grappling is the original translation, but the words "Anything Goes" will have a place in the story. You'll have to wait a bit, because that particular thread isn't going to get pulled for a while, but I have some plans for it.**

**Big thanks to Glitch for helping me edit again. We'll see if I can keep to a chapter a month. This one ran a bit longer than I expected when I started it, but I like how it turned out.**

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Chapter Thirty One

Who We Are in the Dark

[ ν ] - εγλ 0007, December 17

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_11:47 AM_

"_Now hear this,_" a distant loudspeaker called over the dock, the voice carrying a slight accent. "_Cargo vessel '_Grace Of Ifrit_' departing from dock zero-four, bound for Costa Del Sol, scheduled for departure in ten minutes. If you belong on board and you're not, get your ass back here. This is the captain._" The captain returned the comms mouthpiece to its cradle at the roof of the cabin, and turned to meet the gaze of Rufus Shinra, flanked by Director Heidegger. "I am leaving over twenty five thousand gil of merchandise on the dock because of you, so I expect to see a return on this investment."

Rufus tucked an errant hair behind one ear and gave the captain a smile like one would see on a shark. "I fail to see how that is my problem, Shiro."

"It _became_ your problem when you commandeered my ship," the captain replied, jabbing one finger through the air at Rufus. "And that's _Captain_ Shiro to you, boy. You know the law as well as I do. I and every one of my crew are due compensation for lost wages from this little stunt you pulled."

Heidegger's face screwed up in anger, and he stepped forward, placing himself between Shiro and Rufus. "This is the President of Shinra," he began, "and you will show him your respect, or-

"Heidegger?"

The large man turned suddenly to respond to Rufus' inquiry. "Yes, sir?"

"Be quiet." Rufus strode forward in his immaculate white suit and longcoat, walking straight past Heidegger's frozen expression of impotent anger and confusion, and stared down the captain. "And you, Shiro, you think you can... what? What leverage do you think you have against me right now?" he asked. "Over a hundred of my troopers are already on board. We could overrun you at a moment's notice."

Captain Shiro barked out a laugh. "I have no need to lever you. You think we're playing a round of poker? You bet, I bet, we show our cards and see who wins?" He gave a wide grin, his weathered face stretching slightly around it. "No, boy, you handed me the whole deck of cards an hour ago, sat down to a chess table, and gave me all your pieces to that too. I don't play games when it comes to my men, and I don't play games when it comes to our pay. You pay us, you cover the breach of contract costs on the merchandise, or this boat won't float one meter out of the dock while you and your men are aboard."

There was a blur between the two men, and Rufus' Shortbarrel Custom appeared from beneath his longcoat, pointed straight at Shiro. "Or I could spray this cabin with your guts and steer it myself."

Another blur in the cabin, and Shiro had closed the space between them, pressing the dual barrels against his own chest. "I don't believe for even one second that a pampered little shrimp like you would know the first thing about piloting a vessel like this. My sailors already loaded your cargo, and it'll take you twice as long to get it offboarded by yourself if you think I'm too much trouble, because my men won't be helping you do that either." He gave another grin and narrowed his eyes. "You think you got your military with you, but I seen 'em when they boarded. Green, raw recruits, the lot of them, and I'd bet gil to gysahl not a one of them can operate a boat of any kind, let alone this behemoth."

Rufus observed the captain's face carefully, looking for any sign of a crack. There was none. "You're really not afraid of me, are you, _Captain_ Shiro?"

"Sonny," Shiro's face twisted into a weary glare, "I've seen sea monsters, pirates and raiders, thieves and con artists alike. I've seen things back during the war that'd curl your hair as you stand in front of me. I have seen men stranded at sea for less than a day turn on each other with murder in their eyes and idiocy in every step." He glanced down at the shotgun still pressed against his midsection. "A quick death doesn't hold that much fear anymore, not when you've seen what the rest of the world can do to a man."

"Hmph." Rufus shrugged, and withdrew the Shortbarrel, running one hand across the smooth, polished wooden foregrip, before tucking it away again beneath his longcoat. "You impress me. You'll get your payment, Captain."

"And the two of you will be confined to the bridge and captain's quarters, and placed under guard, for the duration of this voyage," Shiro added.

Heidegger looked as if he might burst. "How DARE you-" he began, but before he could say another word, Shiro stepped forward, drawing a dagger from somewhere inside his own coat and pressing the tip beneath the larger man's chin.

"That's seven inches of steel beneath your tongue, you loud-mouthed arse," Shiro countered, his Eastern affectations dropping completely as his Wutaian accent came out in full. The tip of the blade drew a few drops of blood from the base of Heidegger's neck as he continued, "I'd shut your damn _cakehole_ if I was in your shoes. You come onto my ship, you threaten me and my crew, you bring an armed force on board, and you expect me to let you have free rein?"

Rufus observed the exchange between the two men, Shiro completely and utterly in control as Heidegger trembled almost on tiptoe to avoid cutting himself on the tip of the blade pressed against his vitals. "Captain," he said finally. "I honestly have little love for the man, but would you do us both a favor and not gut my aide before we get underway? It'd be a lot of trouble if we toss his corpse overboard, and he lands on the docks. Too much paperwork."

Shiro's gaze did not move from Heidegger's the entire time, but after several seconds of consideration, he gave a curt nod in response. Heidegger remained immobile, seemingly pinned to some point in midair by the knife's presence. After another few seconds, Shiro lowered the tip of the dagger a fraction of an inch, and shoved Heidegger back against the wall of the bridge. "I'll say it again, in case it wasn't clear," he said quietly. "You'll be fed, treated well, and given decent accommodations, but you will not be joining your men below decks. I'll not risk you lot planning a mutiny aboard my ship."

Rufus gave a grin at the sight of Heidegger putting himself back together in impotent rage. "Very well," he said quietly, glaring at Heidegger with disdain. "Let's get this underway, shall we?"

"Indeed," Shiro replied, reaching again for the mouthpiece. "_Attention all hands, prepare for departure. President Shinra and Director Heidegger have elected to take advantage of my hospitality and remain above-decks for the voyage. Chief of the Watch, report to the captain as soon as we are under way..._"

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_11:51 AM_

"_...and have the deck crew prepare to cast off all moorings. Engine room, fire it up. This is the captain._"

Aerith smiled weakly. "So… Rufus really is on board this ship," she said softly, her eyes betraying her worry. "How long will we be aboard?"

Cloud shook his head. "No way to know for certain until we get out of the harbor, but cargo vessels like this are usually pretty slow," he commented. "But I'd say somewhere in the area of twenty to thirty hours between here and Costa Del Sol. If Rufus is aboard, then we have our work cut out for us here."

"I vote we kill the bastard before he sees us comin'," Yuffie called out. The others glared at her. "...what? Is there somethin' wrong with takin' out Rufus?"

Barret strode past Yuffie, but then stopped a few paces behind her. "Dunno if ya gonna understan' this," he said quietly. "But we ain't assassins."

"Yeah, but you're AV-"

Barret moved like a blur, his enormous hand suddenly covering Yuffie's mouth. "Not. Here," he rumbled softly. "'Specially, not here. Jes' keep that under your hat."

Yuffie nodded, and Barret pulled his hand away. "Sorry," Yuffie said. "But I mean, ya don't like Shinra, do ya?" Barret glared, but said nothing. "So why does it matter?"

"It matters because we don't want to get civilians caught up in our fight," Tifa answered, keeping her voice low. "Or at least we try not to. And as much as possible, we want to do this the right way."

Yuffie glared at her. "Whaddya mean, 'civilians'? They're loadin' up all kinds of weapons in those crates and sendin' 'em over to take over somewhere else too. They made that bed, they should lay in it."

"Yuffie," Ranma gave a warning tone, seeing the look on Barret's face at the mention of the weapons that had been brought onboard.

Barret turned and faced Yuffie. "Time and place, runt." He took a step forward, and crouched down, bringing himself down to eye level with the girl. "All of us know what's probably in the crates, same as you. We had to help load it on to keep up the disguise. An' if the chance comes up, we gonna wreck all of it." He reached out and put one hand on Yuffie's shoulder. "But this ain't that chance. We do it here, now, it ain't just us who pays for it. It's gonna be the sailors on this ship, an' their families. An' these are jus' workin' folks, tryna get by. They ain't gotta choice right now, any more than we did when we snuck on board. They play their roles, an' we play ours. Until it's time to stop playin'."

"Yeah, but-"

"Yuffie." Ranma glared at the girl, warning her into silence. "Shinra came in and hurt your country a few years back, right?" Yuffie nodded. "And you want to hurt them back, doncha?" Yuffie stared at him, but said nothing. "And anything that stands in your way, is the enemy, am I right? No matter if it's friend, foe, or just a bystander in the wrong place at the wrong time?" Yuffie's gaze hardened. "I get that they hurt you, but... goin' all Ahab on it right now, especially while we're all sittin' in a tub that's about to be in the middle of the ocean, probably not the best idea."

The others turned to look at Ranma. "What's an 'Ahab'?" Aerith asked, confused.

Ranma paused for a moment, took a breath, paused again, remembered where he was and how likely it was that Gaia didn't have whales, and shook his head, regathering his thoughts. "It's… a character from a story in my world," he explained. "Ahab tried to claim revenge on a sea creature that ate his leg. I'll explain when there's time, later."

"I don't care about all of that!" Yuffie hissed. She did not look like she was taking this well. "Who cares about this Ahab guy? Shinra destroyed my home, they torched half my island, and they forced us into that stupid treaty. Wutai is a tourist trap now, our history is gawked at by slack-jawed idiots who come to drink cheap booze and laugh at the locals. What the hell do you want from me?"

"It's called disproportionate retribution." Everyone looked at Red. Red swayed forward in his trooper disguise, and looked Yuffie square in the eyes. "They hurt you. And when you fight back, you don't just hurt them back, you hit them harder, hurt them more, you might even hurt the people standing near them because you're still angry. You hurt their neighbors and their friends and the people living down the street from them. Now all of them are upset at you, but they can't all take their anger out on you, because you get killed in the first battle. So they start fighting _your_ friends, _your_ family, _your_ city. It escalates with each repetition, and it keeps escalating. At the end there's only two options." Red's canine smile was there under the helmet, but it felt like there was nothing behind it. "Either someone, somewhere, decides that it stops, or everyone continues fighting until one side is ash and dust."

Yuffie blinked, swallowed, and turned away from the wolf. "An' whaddya know about it anyway, huh?" she blurted out angrily. "What did they take from you?"

"_They took my species._"

The silence that fell over the group was deafening. Even the sounds of the engine warming up in the forward cabin, and the chatter of the sailors going about their duties, felt muted, out of place. "S-S-Shinra…" Yuffie stammered, barely able to consider the possibility. "How did they…?"

Red's single yellowed eye glowed faintly at Yuffie. "I am the last _living_ member of my tribe," he said simply. "Shinra owns an army. I am reasonably sure you can perform the calculation from there." And with that he turned and swayed unevenly towards the stairwell to the upper deck.

Tifa's look of worry followed Red until he was out of sight up the stairwell, but aside from that she made no move to stop him. After a moment longer, she turned back to Yuffie, and continued, "That's why we do it this way, Yuffie. We all got people we care about. If we fight the wrong way, then we make _them_ targets, not us," she explained. "If we take him out in the dark in a place like this, Shinra's press would martyr him and make our message that much harder to hear. So we fight clean. We do what we can to protect Gaia, and we make sure that when we fight, that the people who see us understand why we're doing it."

Yuffie kept her head lowered. "What if that doesn't work?" she asked quietly. "Shinra owns the media, y'know... what if they just hide your message? What if fighting them doesn't work, and they just keep replacing the assholes at the top with more assholes from lower down? What do you do then?"

Barret raised his gun-arm meaningfully, hidden as it was beneath a makeshift bandage designed to make it appear as if he had a stump arm. "Proctology exam," he answered, grinning.

"There shouldn't be that many assholes," Cloud declared, leaning casually against one of the crates, "or at least not that many willing to put their lives on the line for a bad cause. We get rid of the leaders, we get the word out to the public, and the rest should start crumbling on its own. If someone else tries to stand up and be an asshole, we take them out too, and we do it just as clean as the first time."

Tifa nodded. "We'll deal with that when… if… we get there. Until then, we do it this way."

Yuffie nodded, and Ranma realized she'd been crying beneath her bravado. Aerith stepped forward and rested one hand on Yuffie's shoulder. "Hey, Yuffie." Yuffie rubbed her face clear, before looking up at Aerith. "All of us have lost things... people, places, time… to hear Ranma talk, it sounds like he lost a whole _planet_. Nobody here has a lockdown on grief. We've all got problems. We can either tear ourselves apart arguing about who has it worse, or we can try to do something about it and make the situation better."

Yuffie nodded, trying to wrap her head around this. "So, what do we do, then?" she asked, her eyes still red from her tears.

"I'm not sure yet," Aerith admitted. "Though you should probably go talk to Red. I think he might have been a bit upset by all of that." Yuffie nodded again, and followed the path Red had taken, disappearing above deck. "We do need to think of a good plan for how to stay out of trouble while we're all here… if nothing else, I sure as hell don't plan to go back into Shinra Tower if I can help it."

Barret glanced around at the other sailors going about their business. "Mebbe we can help out with the basics around here," he said quietly. "Kitchen duty, keepin' things clean, that kind of stuff... 'less any of you ever served on a ship before and know what you're doin'?"

Cloud gave a nod and his head around the edge of the crate, getting a look at the Shinra troopers. "Barret, you'll be responsible for those of us in the sailor's wardrobe... on the premise that if anyone gets in trouble for doing something they shouldn't and they're told to report to their superior, you ought to be able to scare off too many questions. I know the ins and outs of Shinra, so I'll take care of those of us in the trooper uniform. Anyone gives you any unwanted attention, just point them to the direction of-" he paused, looking down at the nametag on the stolen uniform, "-Sergeant Reese."

The party murmured their agreement as the PA system came to life again. "_All hands, we are cleared for departure. Deck crew, loose all moorings. Engine room, engines quarter reverse..._"

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_...moments earlier..._

Yuffie climbed up the stairwell as the others continued their planning, and came out onto the main deck of the cargo vessel. The sunlight that managed to filter down through the buildings and overhangs of Junon to reach the docks was a dingy orange, and carried little warmth left with it, but it was enough to make the place seem slightly brighter than it actually was. Several sailors and a few men in the distinctive Shinra blues walked across the deck, but it didn't take Yuffie long to spot the most uncomfortable-looking of all of them.

She wove through the strangers and approached Red, who was leaning out over the railing at the side of the ship. "Red," she started softly.

"I stand by what I said," Red interrupted, his features hidden underneath the face-concealing trooper helmet. "It ends badly. It _always_ ends badly," he repeated in a forlorn tone.

Yuffie looked across at Red, leaning against the rail as well. "I'm… sorry," she began hesitantly. "I didn't… know about any of that. I…" she trailed off for a moment, her eyes wandering around. "After I came of age, I was trained to be _ninja_… an assassin, by my people. And I'm good at it, I guess. It ain't hard to guess why I picked to be a killer… Shinra took a lot from my people. Almost a decade of bloodshed… they tried to burn the country to the ground just so they could _pave_ over our temples and put their _stupid_ reactors on top… they took my mother's life… and… dammit, I don't know what else to say right now."

A long moment of silence passed between the two stowaways, hidden in plain sight, staring out over the harbor. The PA system staticked itself to life on the speaker above them. "All hands, we are cleared for departure. Deck crew, loose all moorings. Engine room, engines quarter reverse…"

"Shinra… took my mother's life too," Red said quietly, just loud enough to be heard over the captain's voice from above.

Yuffie felt her breath catch in her throat briefly, feeling the sorrow in those words resonate with her own. "We're the same, aren't we?" she responded as the PA cut away into silence again.

Red let out a huff. "Yuffie," he said calmly, "I have only been with these humans for about a week, but I can tell you, _all of us_ are the same, on some level or another. Cloud and Tifa's hometown was razed to the ground, their families murdered in cold blood, by the man you call 'demon.' Ranma has been displaced from his entire world. Aerith… I will let her explain her details, but she has been on the run from Shinra for as long as you have been walking on two feet. Barret seems to carry some deep pain from Shinra as well, and if the hint we heard from that exchange with Dirk this morning is any indication, I believe he may be in a similar situation to the others. And you already know how deep my wound with them runs." The ship began to crawl out of the dock, a few meters at a time, and the deck crew had mostly settled from their brief flurry of activity following the PA's instructions. "We suffer, regardless of whether we suffer alone or together, but at least together we can help carry each other's burdens."

Yuffie gave a slight nod at that, her hands gripping the rail firmly as the boat began to churn in earnest. "Yeah… well, this one burden I got right now I don't think any of ya can carry for me," she declared, her voice uneven.

Red turned to look at her, sniffing the air. "Yuffie, do you get seasick?"

"Seasick, carsick, you name it, I got it," she confirmed, her face screwed up in concentration. "Threw up on a chocobo once. Don't like going anywhere except on foot."

Red's own face twitched in confusion. "I have no intention to belittle this, but you live on an island, yes?" Yuffie nodded slowly, her eyes locked resolutely on the horizon. "If you are that ill-suited for travel, why go anywhere? Especially this far from your home?"

"Because I _had_ to, okay?" Yuffie said finally, meeting Red's gaze through the helmet. A beat passed between the pair, and Yuffie turned away again. "I had to. I… my dad and I had a fight. It… went badly. And he's not the kind of dad who'd let that sit. I couldn't stay, not with him actin' the way he was, and I couldn't move to another part of the island, it's all but deserted now. It was Wutai… or the rest of the world. And…" she paused for a moment, taking a deep breath, "...my dad got Wutai."

Red nodded his head softly in response. "That is a sentiment I can understand… family is both important and difficult to live with, when the shadow it casts outstrips you… and everything you try to accomplish…"

Yuffie noticed the edge in Red's voice. "You okay?"

Red huffed in response. "My own father left… a legacy…" he said softly. "I am not proud of him. But he, too, is gone, so all I can hope for is to leave something better behind when I finally depart."

Yuffie smiled weakly. "Jeez, we really are two of a kind, ain't we?"

"It would seem so-" Red began.

The boat lurched suddenly, clear of the docks, as the engine began to spin into a forward motion, causing them to begin to turn. Yuffie immediately leaned over the railing and lost her breakfast.

"-aside from the motion sickness, anyway," Red finished.

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_1:22 PM_

The ship had made it fully out to sea, and had turned the engines to full, determined to make as fast a trip as possible. The captain clearly did not want Shinra occupying his boat any longer than necessary. At the moment, there was little enough to do to keep busy, and Cloud had taken to checking up on the others, ensuring that they were all safe. Having conversed with most of the party, he sought out, arguably, the strangest member of the group.

Descending into the cargo deck, Cloud spotted Ranma in the stolen uniform he had grabbed in Junon, standing out of the way near the controls for the cargo ramp, as sailors and troopers alike bustled about in their duties. "Ranma," Cloud called softly, trying to keep from being noticed by the other sailors and troopers.

Ranma gave Cloud a nod, waiting for a clear opening. When it seemed that no eyes were on them, he walked over to Cloud, who led them both into a gap between several large crates that had been stowed near midship. "What's up?" Ranma asked, pulling his helmet free.

Cloud stood there for a moment, considering his words. "You're not used to fighting with people, are you?"

Ranma stared at the disguised SOLDIER blankly for a moment. "Hang on, is this a trick question?" he asked suspiciously. "Cuz I've been fighting people for most of the last two years of my life, and it ain't slowin' down any since I came here-"

Cloud waved his arms vaguely, cutting the boy off. "No, no, no, I mean alongside people," he clarified. "Alongside allies, people you trust."

"Oh, yeah... not really, no," Ranma admitted, giving a light shrug. "I mean, sometimes alongside Ryoga, but that's more that he makes sure nobody interrupts a one-on-one battle."

Cloud nodded his understanding. "I figured as much," he commented, lifting one hand to remove his own helmet. He gave Ranma an appraising look, then continued, "You're a good fighter, Ranma. You can obviously stand toe-to-toe with a SOLDIER, and even if it's only for a few minutes at a time, that's not a small thing. Sometimes, though, it's not about being the strongest fighter, the single most capable person. When we fight," Cloud held up a hand, fingers outstretched, and lowered his voice, "when AVALANCHE fights, we work together. We support each other, we keep each other safe, and we shore up each other's weaknesses. Barret, for instance," and Cloud tapped one of his outstretched fingers, "is a capable ranged fighter, good at providing covering fire, harassing gunners and keeping any approaching melee fighters on their toes so they can't just charge in a straight line. He's also a big guy, which makes him an easy target, visually. He doesn't have the same training that someone like I do with materia, for instance, so his spells still hit, but they don't hit as hard. And he's not as adept in close-range combat as Tifa or I am," he went on, poking two more fingers.

Ranma watched and listened as Cloud spoke, trying to keep up. "So... I think I get what you're sayin', but... I don't get why you're sayin' it."

Cloud paused for a moment, taking a deep breath. "Before I get into that, tell me," he said calmly. "Why are we all traveling together?"

Ranma opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again, and then blinked. "Sephiroth, right?" he asked, uncertain. "This sounds like a trick question, we're tryin' ta stop Sephiroth, ain't we?"

"That's one of our group goals, yes," Cloud confirmed, but held up his hand again, fingers still spread out. "But why are we all traveling _together_? If you're about as strong as a SOLDIER, why would you need to stick around with us? If Aerith's got... whatever Ancient magic she's got access to, why would she wait around for you? Why would someone like me rely on Tifa or Barret when I could go it alone? Why don't each of us just split up and try to make it a race to the finish or something?"

Ranma stared at Cloud for a long moment as he processed the question. Then Ranma felt the answer slide into place. "Because of Shinra," he answered. "They'd pick us off one by one."

"That's a part of it," Cloud answered, "but that's far from the whole thing. We're also together because even if Shinra wasn't trying to kill or imprison each of us for different reasons, we are stronger and more capable together than we are on our own. And that includes you." Ranma furrowed his brow, but kept his mouth shut and did his best to follow along as Cloud continued. "You are, frankly, among the best melee fighters I've ever seen, and that puts you in fine company. You've apparently learned to do combat magic reliably in less than a month, something that usually takes half a year of dedicated work for Shinra troopers. And you've apparently got some weird magic of your own, or you wouldn't be able to cast Beta. But you don't know this world," Cloud went on, gesturing around them. "If I'd told you that our final goal was in Modeoheim, or in Banora, and asked you to lead us there, you wouldn't know where to start. If I asked you to name three non-elemental materia spells, you wouldn't be able to. That's not to say that you're stupid, you just didn't grow up here. So you need our help if you want to keep going, just as much as we can use your help in taking down Sephiroth once we get to him."

Ranma took a breath, nodding his acknowledgement. "So... you're saying I need to be more of a team player, right?" Cloud tilted his head in answer. "Okay, I get it, it's not something I'm used to doing. Back in Japan and China, it usually ended up being up ta me to take down whoever was starting things up, either because they targeted me an' Akane, or because nobody else was nearly strong enough to match up. So, what do you want me to do?"

Cloud gave Ranma a gentle prod in the shoulder. "The first is that when we get into fights, you keep trying to do everything yourself, like we're just tagging along for fun. What you did today, holding yourself up as bait for that SOLDIER, Amon... was a good idea. I'm not going to lie about that, you made what was probably the best tactical decision, it kept our presence as quiet as possible, and it obviously worked, because we're not dead, and neither are you. But... I don't think you were weighing the tactical benefits, were you?" he asked, lowering his hands to his sides. "I'd be willing to bet you were thinking about how you, personally, could solve the problem, instead of how we could all work together to take out Amon."

Ranma lowered his head as the words hit him. He wanted to say that Cloud was wrong, but the former SOLDIER had hit the nail on the head, and it was a difficult feeling. "Yeah," he replied softly, trying to keep sullen out of his tone. "Yeah, I wasn't thinking about that. I was... tryna take care of it myself."

Cloud nodded, and leaned back against one of the big metal crates. "You made the right call, Ranma," Cloud reiterated. "But it's just as important to make that call for the right reasons. And that's part of what I want you to pay attention to for a bit. The second thing is related to that, and that's in how you tend to fight." Ranma looked up, waiting patiently, but didn't say anything. "You're strong, you're capable, you're versatile. This is all good. When you fight, you fight in such a way that you risk yourself unnecessarily, and you aren't paying attention to the rest of us except when you're going to throw out something big. I want you to try focusing on what the others are doing and supporting them. I mean, some of them are your pupils now, aren't they?"

Ranma smiled at the reminder. "Yeah, they are," he replied.

"So you should be showing them how to work together, how to complement one another's talents and abilities, right?" Cloud asked.

Ranma hesitated for a moment, but gave a small nod of his head. "You know, it's… annoyin' that you're better at this than I am."

Cloud waved off the compliment. "I spent years under Shinra's banner, learning squad tactics, leadership, battle strategy, and a whole lot of other stuff that they try to cram into your head before they even consider you SOLDIER material," he explained, meeting Ranma's eyes, "And that's not even counting the mercenary work I did. And like I said, you've got the most natural martial talent of anyone I've met, ever. If you took your fighting ability and paired it with sound tactical reasoning, you'd probably be unstoppable. And if I can get you up to speed on Shinra's military strategies while we're at it, all the better."

Ranma stood in silence for a moment, letting that sink in. "I was considering it, you know," he said quietly.

"Considering what?"

Ranma paused for a moment, before inhaling sharply. "What Yuffie was talking about before," he answered. When Cloud didn't respond, he continued, "Killing Rufus."

Cloud froze. He stared at the dark-haired fighter in silence for a long moment. "Okay, out with it," he said finally, his tone resigned. "What was the plan?"

Ranma blinked in shock, looking up at Cloud, before his earlier thoughts came rushing back to him. "Sneak up in the middle of the night, use the Umi-sen Ken to slip past the guard, and just... I dunno, break his neck or somethin'," he explained, making a grip with one hand in midair and tilting it sharply to the side in demonstration. "I hadn't got much more than that, but when we were talkin' about it, and listenin' to Barret an' Tifa an' Red talkin' about the consequences… I realized no matter how I did it, there'd be no way to do it without bringin' the troops down around everyone's ears. Worse, they might just blame the sailors for it and shoot them all in revenge for it."

Cloud nodded his understanding. "So you _do_ understand how to think strategically," he said lightly.

"Hey, just because I ain't _good_ at it doesn't mean I don't know _how_," Ranma smirked. After a moment of silence, the cocky expression fell away, replaced by concern. "But, all that aside... I don't know if I could do it. I... I ain't a killer. I know... I..." He trailed off, sliding down against the crate behind him to a seated position, looking down and away. "I don't know how to just... _end_ people like that. I know back in the Tower I gave some of the guards some injuries they wouldn't wake up from, but... that was in the heat of battle... and we were tryna save Aerith, an'..." he paused, focusing on a specific memory. He shivered as the moment played out in his head. "Back in Midgar, before we climbed up to the Tower, you asked me if… Wedge… was the first time I'd seen someone die. An' I said yeah. An'... that wasn't exactly the truth. About eight months back, I had to do somethin' like that too, and... aw, hell... this place is so messed up, I don't even know what I'm sayin' anymore…"

Ranma drifted into silence, staring at nothing, his expression unreadable. Cloud watched the martial artist for a moment before sitting down beside him. "You need to get it off your chest?" Cloud offered. "I'm not the best choice for counselor on this crew either, but I'll do my best."

Ranma didn't respond for several seconds. When he did, it was as if from a long way away. "There was this guy, called Saffron," he began, letting the helmet he'd been holding onto slip away from his fingers. The dome of the helmet clattered to the deck of the cargo hold, but the sound didn't rise above that of the engine thrumming beneath them. "He... Well, I tolja 'bout the curse. We found out there might be a way to use the waters that feed into the Jusenkyo springs to reverse the effects, which would have got me, Pops, Ryoga, an' even Shampoo an' the others a cure. Didn't pan out, which kinda sucked... anyway…" he trailed off for a moment, recollecting his thoughts. "While we were lookin' around for the way to reverse the spring's curse, this guy Saffron came along, and plugged up the springs at their source, so that he could take a bath. Turns out he needed the magic from the springs ta keep his power in check while he became an adult. An' he was... insanely strong. Like, flyin' through the air, takin' hits that'd level buildings, destroyin' mountains with a single attack, has a counter to everything you do, maybe-immortal kinda strong. A buncha stuff happened… most of it seems kinda stupid now," he admitted, "but one thing that was really important was Akane, my fiance… she touched somethin' that nearly killed her. An' the only way we had that'd let us save her life was… past Saffron."

Cloud nodded. "And he wouldn't let you pass, I take it?"

"He wouldn't budge on it," Ranma confirmed, rubbing absently at his shoulder. "An' when push came to shove, I... couldn't beat him. He was just... too damn strong, too stubborn to take a loss, too arrogant to give up, an' with Akane on death's door, there wasn't time for us to figure out a way around him. So I had to push myself past '_beat him_' and I showed up at '_kill him_'. And... even that almost wasn't enough. Akane almost gave her life, just so I had an opening to put him down. And I took it." Ranma's face was blank, his eyes filled with the memory of his resolve. "I used my most powerful technique, I used it with every ounce of power I had sittin' behind it, an' I froze his legs and hips solid, an' I… cut Saffron in half."

Cloud sat there, mulling over the story. "You did what needed to be done," he said softly, after a long silence. "Nothing more."

"I know that," Ranma whispered. "But… he _survived_ it. He says he's part phoenix… and believe me, he _looked_ the part, but I dunno if I'd believe that any more, the way you got actual freakin' dragons and who knows what else runnin' around here... but that's what he said. An' he survived it. It changed him back to an egg, an' his caretaker said he'd have to grow up all over again, but..." Ranma clasped his hands together in front of his face, his gaze distant and unfocused. "I was... so damn glad I hadn't actually killed him. That I hadn't really taken someone's life, even if I meant to. I felt… gross, afterwards. Like I'd done something that nobody could forgive me for, like I'd stained the teachings Pops tried to drill into me."

"And your friends didn't see it that way," Cloud added. Ranma looked over at Cloud and saw the same look on his face that Ranma himself bore, a look of controlled anguish and confusion. "Some of them praised you, some celebrated what you did. Maybe one or two looked eager to see what you'd do next, if you'd be able to kill again. You didn't want to. You _still_ don't want to." Cloud turned to face Ranma, the soft green glow behind his eyes lined with steel. "But you _had_ to. The world wasn't that kind, to let you do it once and never again. Somehow... the world _remembers_ things like that. And when things get bad, when the world needs someone who can make those hard choices, to end the life of another living, breathing, sentient being… the world finds you, and throws you into the middle of it again."

Ranma shivered as he listened to Cloud's dispassionate description, his eyes twitching slightly, unable to meet the piercing glow of the SOLDIER's gaze head-on for more than an instant at a time. "How..." he began, before trailing off again. "Is all of SOLDIER like that? They can all kill without havin' ta think about it?"

"Not all of them... and it doesn't get any easier," Cloud's voice seemed to fill the space between them as he spoke. "Not for people like you and I, or even for Barret. For the sociopaths, for the career warriors, for the kind of people who can remove the idea of 'person' from the people they kill, it's easy. And it gets easier every time they do it. But as much as it looks like I'm always in control, like I'm cold and calculating... I feel it, every time I have to take someone's life. And I look at you and I see the same look on your face as I had when I was fourteen and went off after my basic training, and got sent on a mission to kill someone. And seeing that look on your face, I know you're the same as me. It won't get easier." Cloud let out a breath, and rose to his feet. "The best you can ever hope for is that you live long enough to learn the harder lesson... that there are people out there, who can and will kill you, and they don't have the same problem you or I do. They'll kill you. They'll kill the people around you, the people behind you, the people you're supposed to keep safe. Unless you do something about it."

Ranma couldn't bring himself to look up at Cloud. "That's... awful," he responded finally.

"It is," Cloud agreed solemnly. "But believe me when I say, it's nothing compared to the feeling of having let someone else kill because you were too worried about how you'd feel if you took their life first. People like us... we usually don't get a third option, not when it comes to opponents like Shinra and SOLDIER, or Saffron." Cloud turned away. "When it comes down to it, you either take out the enemy before they hurt the ones you're supposed to protect, or hope like hell you can live with the pile of bodies afterwards."

Cloud adjusted the trooper helmet back over his hair and upper half of his head, and stepped back out into the cleared aisle on the cargo deck. Ranma sat there for several minutes in silence, contemplating Cloud's words as the sounds of the ship echoed about. He took a deep breath, exhaled, and picked up his own discarded helmet, sliding it back over his head as he pushed himself back to his feet. "Cloud... I really hope you're wrong," he muttered to himself. "But… you don't sound like you're wrong…"

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_2:09 PM_

Yuffie gripped the safety railing firmly as she descended the stairs from the main deck, taking each step slow and stiff, keeping both feet planted as much as possible. Eventually, she reached the cargo deck floor, and worked her way along the row of crates until she found an alcove near the stern of the ship, just beneath the framework that held the stairs in place. She lowered herself slowly to the deck, lay down on one side, and tried to focus on the feeling of the firm, cool metal beneath her as her stomach tossed and turned. She reached down to one of her hidden pockets, rummaging through it for her medical supplies, but found it empty of any medication.

She let out a sigh and turned over onto her back, pressing her palms firmly against the deck and trying to still her body as much as possible. Laying flat, surrounded by crates, eyes unfocused as she looked more or less straight up, she was unable to see any of the sources of noise around her. The common sounds of crew walking to and fro, voices calling out questions and answers, and the hum of the engine churning beneath her came together in a sort of white noise, and she let her eyes close for a few moments there on the lower deck.

Until the sound of heavy boots approached on the deck, causing her to tense up. "Yuffie, I know you're here," a young man's voice called out.

Yuffie immediately relaxed again, recognizing the words as belonging to Ranma. "Back here," she called out quietly. A few more footsteps, and the trooper-disguised Ranma appeared in her field of vision. "Welcome to my little hidey-hole."

Ranma looked down at the prone ninja. "You look… like you ate something my fiance made for dinner," he said quietly, sporting a slight grin.

"What, your girl can't cook?"

Ranma shook his head as he sat down nearby, leaning back against the inside hull. "Oh, she can cook, all right," he explained, "but you don't want to eat what comes out of the pot." He let out a low chuckle as he remembered some of the previous instances of her nearly-lethal meals. "She's… getting better, but it's slow going. She can manage rice and grilled fish now without it getting toxic, so that's a plus."

"Oh Goddess, don't talk to me about fish right now," Yuffie said, as she shuffled herself into a seated position opposite Ranma, sliding her own back against one of the crates. "Don't suppose you have a tranquilizer?"

Ranma shook his head. "Sea sick?"

Yuffie nodded weakly, a pale look to her normally energetic face. "Gonna try to tough it out."

"Want some help?"

Yuffie glanced at him suspiciously. "How?"

Ranma looked her over, analyzing the younger girl's posture and movements. "You're too stiff," he commented after a moment. "I know it seems like the opposite, but on the ocean you have to let your body relax some. If you hold yourself too stiff, you feel the ship movements too much, and it messes with your sense of balance." He demonstrated by holding his hand perfectly rigid, flat, parallel to the floor of the cargo bay. The ship struck a wave, and teetered to one side. Ranma remained mostly in the same place, but his hand shuddered with the effort of holding it steady.

Yuffie shook her head. "So, what?"

Ranma sighed. "So… you're wastin' a lot of extra energy tryin' ta keep yourself still. Loosen up some. Take a look at the other sailors, they're not walkin' 'round nearly as stiff as you are. Be like water," he said, holding the same hand in a much looser, relaxed manner, and instead of juddering to and fro as the boat rocked in the ocean, the hand wavered up and down in a much more fluid manner.

Yuffie glanced over at him, and sat down against the cool deck. "How do you know all this stuff, anyway?" she asked. "You're… what, a whole _year_ older than I am? And you don't look like you're older 'n me, anyway."

Ranma sat down next to Yuffie and gave her a grin. "I've… had a really weird couple years," he answered, several choice memories flitting past his subconscious. "Lotsa stuff happened. Had ta swim to another country at one point."

"But…" Yuffie glared in disbelief. "I thought you said this Japan place was an island?"

"Yup."

"So, what, it's in a lake?" she asked. "You swam across the lake to get out of the country?"

Ranma shook his head. "Nope. It's an island… well, a coupla islands, but it's in the ocean. Nearest country across the ocean to where we started out from is China. And Pops and I swam the whole way," he gritted his teeth at the memory, "because Pops was too much of a cheapskate to buy a boat ticket."

Yuffie laughed at that. "Your father is weird."

"You have no idea," Ranma responded. He took a deep breath. "Somethin' I been meanin' ta ask ya about."

"Hmmm?" Yuffie groaned, still trying to keep herself steady.

"Wutai." Ranma shook his head. "From what I read back in Midgar, Japan of my world is… a lot like it, in a lot of different ways, but…there's a lot of differences too. Also… I'm not sure I'd trust Shinra's public libraries to tell me the sky was blue, but that's another matter." That got a laugh out of Yuffie. "Guess what I'm askin' is… can you tell me about Wutai?"

"You wanna know about Wutai?" Yuffie asked. "Why? You're from there, an' I'm still not buyin' that crap about bein' from another planet."

Ranma sighed. "I'm really not from Wutai, runt, no matter what you believe. But I'm asking, because…" he lowered his voice. "I've been thinkin'. When this is all done, I still might not know how to get home. If that happens… Wutai sounds like it might be the closest place to home I could find. I just… wanna know what it's like."

Yuffie scoffed, and glanced at Ranma. Ranma's face was crestfallen. He suddenly looked less like the nearly invulnerable martial artist she'd seen in the last twelve hours, and much more like he'd been run ragged for days on end. He looked like he was close to a breaking point. Yuffie sighed, and relented. "It's… not much these days…" she admitted. "Shinra kinda razed half the island during the war, and it's been less than a decade since then. But there's still a lotta history there. Our city sits right up close to a mountain, and centuries ago some of our greatest artisans carved the likeness of Da-Chao into it…"

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_2:19 PM_

Aerith smiled, looking at Ranma and Yuffie chatting companionably, before stepping carefully up the stairwell. She checked to make sure her long braid was still hidden inside her cap, before exiting the stairwell onto the main deck, turning to meander casually in the direction of Tifa.. "And you owe me twenty gil," she said quietly.

Tifa blinked in surprise. "What, already?"

"Yep."

Tifa scowled, but reached into her bra and pulled out a couple coins, pressing them into Aerith's outstretched hand. "What're they up to, anyway?" Tifa asked.

Aerith giggled and pocketed the gil. "Ranma's helping Yuffie deal with being seasick. Yuffie's telling Ranma about Wutai. Right now they're getting along. I expect the announcement about a third student of the Saotome School probably by the time we make Costan shores."

"He- er, she…" Tifa paused for a moment, running one hand over her brow. "...whatever, gonna get used to that. Ranma... he really has a thing for helping people, doesn't he?"

"Yes, he does," Aerith agreed with a smile. "I think it's his biggest strength."

The raven-haired girl returned the smile. "And that's saying something, considering how strong he is physically." Tifa sighed, clasping her hands behind her nervously. She turned to face Aerith. "I've been meaning to ask…"

Aerith's gaze turned out over the ocean as Tifa trailed off. Her eyes focused on the waves on the horizon as the vessel ploughed through the choppy waters. "You want to know if I'm interested in Cloud."

Tifa goggled at her. Her jaw worked soundlessly for a good five seconds. "I don't know how you keep doing that," she muttered, careful to not let the other sailors overhear them, "but you might want to keep a trick like that under your hat. Especially here."

"It's not easy," Aerith explained softly, turning her green gaze back to Tifa. "I don't have a lot of control over it."

Tifa blinked. "Are we talking about you liking Cloud, or about this weird psychic thing you keep pulling?"

Aerith shrugged. "Both, probably." She stretched, still looking poised as ever, even as the ship staggered back and forth across the choppy water. "The truth is… yes, I do like him. But I can tell he has feelings for you. And even if I felt like I wanted to step on that, and I don't… there's the simple matter that I don't feel like I'm a safe person to be around, on that level, right now."

Tifa gave a sidelong glance. "I'd wondered why you were keeping your distance from Ranma."

"Ranma's…" Aerith looked back out over the water. "...different."

Tifa chuckled. "You can say that again."

"It's more than just the obvious, though," Aerith went on, hands folded over the railing. "He wants to go home. He's got a life there. I don't think I should get in the way of that either… even if I kind of want to sometimes. He's… he reminds me of someone I dated a couple years ago, someone who said he'd… be my bodyguard. And Ranma just puts himself in the line of fire without even thinking about it, like it's natural for him to protect people… to protect… me." She smiled, a warm and genuine smile that even Tifa found infectious. "And as dangerous as that is for him, it's something I can't help but appreciate.

Tifa nodded, following the other girl's train of thought. "Still worried about what Shinra wanted to do with you?"

"Shinra's definitely on the list of things I have to worry about, but even with where we are right now, they're a distant third at the moment." Aerith's smile disappeared, and she suddenly looked much older, much more world-weary. "Sephiroth's way up at the top of the list… I keep seeing this image in my head. Sephiroth, standing in the darkness, poised over the whole world like a monster, ready to devour it whole. And we might be the only ones with enough knowledge and drive to do something to stop that."

Tifa nodded grimly. "We'll take him down, I promise." She turned to leave, then paused, tilting her head back to face the older girl again. "What's number two?"

"Hm?"

"You said Sephiroth's at the top of the list. Shinra's in third. What's second?"

Aerith turned to face Tifa. Her smile had returned, but for a brief moment Tifa could see behind the facade that smile held up. "I am."

Tifa's face was a mask of confusion. "You're… worried about _you_… being a threat to _you_?"

Aerith shook her head. "To everyone." She turned away. "Tifa, this one is… it's complicated. I think I have it under control… and I have some help from Ranma. I promise if it keeps being a problem, I'll explain it to all of you, but I don't think here and now is the best opportunity."

Tifa frowned, but turned and gave the woman a pat on the shoulder. "Not gonna hug ya right now, we're supposed to be… professionals," she said quietly. "Going to hold you to that though. Let me know if you need anything."

"I will, thanks."

Tifa turned and walked away, leaving Aerith to turn her gaze back towards the horizon. "Mother," she whispered. "I have so many questions I wish you could answer…"

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_5:41 PM_

"How many potatoes can one ship go through?" Barret muttered as he set another one in a large tub nearby.

Cloud smirked in response, whittling the skin off another. "Standard mess rations," he explained. "Simple starch, simple protein, one vegetable, one drink. Even a half-company of troopers like this will go through mess rations like you wouldn't believe."

Barret frowned. "Still a damn lotta potatoes," he grumbled, positioning another one in his faux-stump and carefully working it with the blade. "Find out anythin' on the cargo?"

Cloud paused for a moment, glancing around to make sure nobody else was in earshot. "Guns, mostly," he confirmed in a low voice. "Field rations. Some handheld explosives. All of it's standard, though. It's enough to equip every trooper on this ship for an extended battle against a strong opposing force."

Barret grinned despite himself, flipping the potato over to work the other side. "Looks like Rufus is taking Sephiroth seriously, sending a small army after one man."

A long silence passed between the two men. "It won't be enough," Cloud said finally.

Barret tossed the cleaned potato into the tub. "What makes you say that all of a sudden?"

"Just think about it," Cloud began as he started idly skinning another potato. "Rufus is smart, and he's got power, but Shinra hasn't changed much in the last five years. Troopers are still troopers. SOLDIER is still the same. Sephiroth was in command back then, he knows their tactics, their abilities, their… everything." He frowned, tossing the spud in with the rest and picking up another one. "Heidegger's not exactly a military genius, either. Usually his solution is to throw more people at a problem until the people stop turning into corpses."

"An' you sayin' he can't just bury the man in troops," Barret nodded as he caught on.

Cloud set the peeler down. "It's more than that," he continued, gesturing behind them to the mess hall. "Even if they're a threat to us, troopers mostly join up because it's a job, pays decent money, or they think it'll get them girls. Most of them never see anything more serious than guard duty, not since the war ended. And there's maybe three or four of them that I've seen on board that look like they've seen any real action, the rest are FNGs, right out of basic training. So if they throw this group at Sephiroth-"

"...It'll turn into a bloodbath," Barret finished, resting his arms over his knees. "Jeez, every time I think I can't hate Shinra more, they go an' prove me wrong." He reached for a fresh potato. "So, we got a plan?"

"Still working on it," Cloud admitted. He finished his half and knelt down to help Barret with the remainder left in his basket. "Tough as it is to say, we might have to let this one go. I can't think of any way we can get the guns off the boat or into the ocean without the sailors getting blamed for it. And if the sailors get blamed, this whole ship is going to be the bloodbath instead."

Barret let out a low growl, but let the matter sit. After all, there were still potatoes to be peeled.

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_6:39 PM_

Sten Parson, Lieutenant, Second Class, was in charge of a little under half of the enlisted men on board the Grace of Ifrit. Not counting the ship's captain, the only three people on board that exceeded his authority were his own Captain, and then Director Heidegger and President Shinra. The amount of work he had done to excel to the degree of being recognized for his command talent was finally paying off, though he was more than a little concerned about the current assignment. Despite his worries, he kept his opinions to himself and resolved to do the best he could to complete the mission and keep his men safe.

He'd drawn the long straw when it came to shift setting between himself and the other lieutenant aboard, and as a result his platoon had earned first dinner in the mess hall. He had finally sat down to his dinner after watching the rest of his men plate up, and was looking forward to the bland but filling food he had grown accustomed to in the military.

"Lieutenant," a voice called from behind him as he lifted his fork.

Parson turned to meet the face of one of his troopers, and remained seated. "Sergeant Standswell," he said before taking a bite of his mashed potatoes. "What's on your mind?"

Sergeant Solomon Standswell looked a bit nervous, a look Parson was not used to seeing on the man's face. "There's been some kind of breach, sir," he began. "One of the crates we loaded this morning."

Parson poked at his steak, which seemed more bulletproof than usual. "Can this wait?" he asked, though he expected he already knew the answer.

Standswell shook his head in response. "It looks like something might be missing."

That _was_ serious. Shinra held corporate and military property in highest regards, and theft or loss of any of it meant imprisonment at minimum. "All right," he answered, "show it to me."

Standswell nodded and led Parson to an area being fussed over by three troopers, none of whom he recognized. Standswell motioned for them to stand clear, and Parson took in the scene. One of the topmost wooden crates was partially opened at the corner, the nails that held it down having been pulled back slightly. "The private down there found it and reported it to me."

Parson eyed the private, whose stance was rigid and inflexible, head covered by the regulation helmet despite being at sea aboard a civilian vessel and at mess hour. The boy was clearly fresh out of training and unused to being in the presence of anyone higher up than possibly his own corporal. "All right, tell me what happened," he said, eyeing the uniform nametag, "Private Jenkins."

"Sir," the private began, throwing out a salute. "I was doing a patrol before mealtime, and I noticed the box looked crooked, like it was tilted or something. I climbed up to investigate, and saw the top like that, sir. I was climbing down to make my report when the other two found me."

Parson turned to the second man, wearing the insignia of a private first-class, and gave him a once-over. "Is that what happened?" he asked.

"Sir," the second man began, much more at ease with himself, "I don't know about what he says happened before we showed up, but yes, we saw him climbing down from the crates. I thought he might have taken something from the crate, but now I'm not sure, sir."

Parson said nothing, and instead climbed up atop the first two crates to get a better look at the opened one. A single nail was missing from the corner of the lid, and the lid itself was raised up, which left a space just wide enough for a person to maybe reach in with a hand and pull out something equally narrow. A bayonet, maybe, but certainly not a rifle or one of the heavy weapons. He examined the lid, seeing a few marks and scuffs where the crate had been in contact with others like it. as well as a large wedge-shaped mark just below the lid on one side, about the width of a human palm. The mark was far too large to have been made by a crowbar or similar hand tool, which left only one option to Parson's mind.

"Looks like it got knocked open by a forklift," he commented. He hopped down from the stack of crates and stood in front of the trio of privates. He looked over the trooper who had been investigating it to begin with. "Good eye, Private Jenkins," he declared.

"Sir!" Ranma said beneath the helmet and uniform of Private Jenkins. He snapped off a salute, careful to keep the two foot long bayonet he had inside his jacket from becoming outlined against the fabric as he moved.

Parson returned the salute before turning to the pair of PFCs. "After mealtime, you two will be up there closing it off again."

"Sir!" the two troopers chorused.

"Dismissed," Parson ordered, and the three troopers left the area. He stared after them for a moment, before glancing over at Standswell. "Jenkins… is he one of your FNG's?" Parson asked.

To his mild surprise, Standswell turned his head to the side. "Says he wasn't assigned to a unit yet, got shuffled onto the boat with orders but no command structure."

Parson rolled his eyes, but was less than shocked at the revelation. "Figures," he commented wearily, having dealt with logistics errors before. "Bring him by again in the morning. We'll find him some space in one of the units somewhere. Kid seems sharper than the others, might be useful."

"Will do, sir," Standswell responded, and gave a salute.

Parson returned the salute. "All right, mystery solved for now, let's get some grub."

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_11:21 PM_

The sun had set long ago, and only the night shift was currently active. The temperature had dropped well below freezing, and a thin layer of frost clung to the rails around the perimeter of the ship. The main deck was lit faintly, to help preserve the sailors' night vision. Floodlights sat above the deck, attached at several points in case immediate daylight was required, either to rescue an overboard shipmate or passenger, or to expose an intruder. A lone figure strode unnoticed along the main deck, slipping through the pockets of deep shadow aboard the vessel, passing in front of and between the ship's crew as if it wasn't there. Each step the shadow took was muted, each breath in the cool wintry air left no mist behind. There was, in truth, no evidence whatsoever that anyone was actually there. And yet there was.

A trio of uniformed sailors came along the starboard deck, directly in the path of the figure, who leaped straight up at the last moment. The shadowy being grabbed at a safety railing in passing, turning the upwards momentum into a pivoting vault, and landed in complete silence on the observation deck above the ship's bridge. Beneath the cover of the shadows cast by the bridge tower, the figure crept over to the hatch leading into the bridge and slipped inside. The night watch officer, focused on the ship's operation and steering, did not look up as a human-shaped shadow slunk past the consoles to the stairwell leading to the bridge quarters.

Where slept Rufus Shinra.

Ranma stepped forward, drawing the stolen bayonet from inside his dark blue jacket, lowering his arms to his sides as the long triangular blade rested behind him in reverse-grip. Standing at the foot of the bed, staring at the despot laying in bed. Ranma remained motionless, wrestling with himself as the opportunity lay before him. He knew the man before him to be all but a self-proclaimed tyrant, a man who not only desired but seemed to revel in the idea of ruling the world with fear, a man seemingly without a shred of remorse to hear the tales of his companions. A bully, of the worst sort, one that had reached the absolute pinnacle of the world's power structure and found along his way not a single person both willing and able to tell him no, to make him stop, to take him down. And now, after Cloud had tried and failed to defeat him in the seat of his power, the driving force behind one of the major threats to this world, to his friends and their very lives, lay before him. Unconscious. Defenseless. Helpless.

The moment drew out for seconds, then a minute, then two, the young leader of Shinra oblivious to the man standing above him as he slept. Ranma briefly considered the other end of the issue, whether it was within him to take the life of a man. A tyrant. A man who employed killers and soldiers and mad scientists for the sole purpose of increasing the already immense power he held. A man that obviously deserved death. In cold blood.

Ranma flinched from the thought. The idea of taking another's life in equal combat, in the fire of battle, was unpalatable to him, but at least one he could live with. The concept of ruthlessly snuffing out a life, even one as twisted and vile as this, without warning and in the dark... that was something else, and the thought of such an act being performed by him turned his stomach. He turned away from the bed, shivering with the effort of his considerations. And saw on the table a tanned leather back-holster. And what he recognized as a sawed-off shotgun, the weapon Rufus had drawn on the roof of Shinra Tower only a few short days ago. Barret had called it a Shortbarrel, one of Shinra's designs. It looked much fancier than the kinds he'd seen carried around Midgar's slums, with lacquered wood, the barrels coated in some kind of almost mirrored material, and a fair amount of texture to the pistol-grip that would seem to make it easier to hold onto.

Ranma gave a wicked-looking grin in the darkness of the cabin. _Murder_ may be outside his consideration, but... _mischief_, now that he could still wrap his head around. He gripped the bayonet handle tightly and reached for the shotgun.

-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-

_2:21 AM_

Sergeant Standswell had pulled night duty in the roster, and was standing watch in the engine room, smoking a cigarette. He glanced at his watch, noting the time. About a half hour left on his shift before he'd be spelled and could go get some shut-eye of his own. "Bullshit anyway," he muttered to himself. "Eight hundred kilometers from shore in either direction, nothing's gonna happen."

There was a rattle of an instrument falling to the floor somewhere off to one side. "Damn it," a voice spoke over the sound of the engine. "Hey, Sarge, mind giving me a hand over here?"

Standswell looked around, but did not see the source of the voice. He shrugged and pinched the tip of the cigarette, tucking it behind his ear. "Yeah, sure," he muttered, walking towards the port-side engine area.

About a minute later, Sergeant Solomon Standswell became the first person to know how much danger everyone on board the ship was in. Unfortunately for everyone on board the ship, and also for himself, Sergeant Solomon Standswell was no longer in any position to do anything about it.

* * *

**Three scenes here were, to my writer's mind, absolutely critical to this chapter; the Ranma/Cloud discussion on the nature of killing intent, the Red/Yuffie dialogue on the matter of family, and the stinger at the end with the Shinra Sergeant. But even as long and heavy as the scene between Ranma and Cloud is, the scene between Red and Yuffie gave me the most trouble. For over six months, that space between the two scene markers in the rough draft file read "placeholder for Yuffie/Red discussion". When I finally found the crux of that scene, it took me less than an hour to get it down and ready for first review. In addition to my fiction writing, I also work with a comedy crew doing something in the vein of Mystery Science Theater 3000, but on a smaller scale... and without the robots or space station. We have a running reference in our group writing sessions which we call 'peanut butter jokes'... the idea being that sometime the lines flow like water, and we're thankful for those times, but at other times the lines flow like peanut butter, and you have to upend the jar and dig in with a spoon and scrape out the idea you want to get onto the paper. That scene was very much a 'peanut butter' scene from a writing perspective. Hopefully, this is another little tip that might inspire some of you out there.**

**For those unaware, 'FNG' is common military slang for 'fucking new guy'. Generally it's used to denote new recruits, trainees, and fresh Privates who haven't seen any action.**

**Hope you liked it! Feedback and comments, as always, are welcome.**


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